Dare
by freedomisasillything
Summary: Enter Asren Dare, a complex and mysterious girl that is becoming a part of the BAU. But she carries with her a past, and this past could, not only endanger her.. it could kill them all. Follow her journey here. Possible pairings later on.
1. New Beginnings

_Okay, this is my first fanfic EVER. So please don't completely rip it apart. This is an AU. For a little backgroud, Prentiss returned from London about a year after leaving, and now with the addition of Asren the team is now up to nine members. Asren is an OC, and I own her. As you can expect, I do not own Criminal Minds. Please review so I can get better! _

It was a cold morning in London, when we boarded Interpol's private jet to head to America. So much had happened to me in the past two years, and I wasn't exactly sure why I was doing this. Clyde said this was the best thing for me, and I guess he was right and I did owe him. After all he had saved my life, when he rescued me. Leaning back on the leather couch, I watched Clyde, studing every movement he made read over the folder he had sitting in his lap.

Time passed slowly, but after about five minutes of just watching him, he looked up his light blue eyes watching me curiously.

"Enjoying the view, sweetheart?" He asked with an annoying smirk on his face.

I let out a snort, and glared at him. Pointedly I turned my head away, feeling a blaze of annoyance as he let out a chuckle. This flight was going to be long.

I stretched out my legs across the couch sitting sideways and rested my head allowing the quiet lull of the jets engines calm me into sleep.

_Meanwhile at the BAU~_

Aaron Hocthner sat in his office looking over the new paperwork with a scowl. He had been overrode as for the assignment for the new agent of his group, Agent Dare. The woman's record was a puzzle, it seemed that she was being brought to the US by Interpol, and that the director of the FBI had approved her job in the BAU, directly. His disapproval was ignored.

A knock at his door interrupted his annoyed glare at the file, and he looked up as Rossi stepped inside.

"Still can't fight that transfer?" He questioned, as he glanced around the office.

"No." Hotch answered with a sigh. He tossed the folder at Rossi, and leaned back against his chair, watching as Rossi thumbed through it.

"When will she get here?" Rossi asked without looking up from the file.

"In the next hour." Hotch replied with a glance at the clock.

"She has an interesting record, Aaron. She may have offer us a different insight on the cases. Have you warned the team? I'm assuming she'll do remedial tactical training with Morgan and Prentiss?" Rossi asked, as he finally looked up from the file he was holding.

"I've spoken with them. I'm sure Garcia already has told everyone, everything there is to know about her." Hotch sighed.

Letting out a chuckle, Rossi sat the folder back down on Hotch's desk and turned to exit the room.

"I'm interested in this one, she seems like she'll be a handful." He said as he walked out.

The jet had landed and a non-descript black car was waiting to drive them to the FBI. The ride there was just as quiet as the plane ride from London. Thirty minutes later, the car stopped in front of a large building and Clyde exited, and walked around to open her door. He let out a chuckle as she glared at him before entering the building.

After going through security and up the elevator, the arrived outside the glass doors of the BAU. Clyde entered with no hesitation and walked quickly thought the bullpen, and up a small flight of stairs. I followed him at a quick pace, quickly taking note of the structure of the building and seven curious eyes watching her follow Clyde. He stopped outside of the door, and knocked before entering it.

"Agent Hotchner." He greeted with his lazy British drawl.

"Easter." Agent Hotchner replied curtly before turning his gaze to me.

I stared into his dark brown eyes with my own green eyes and watched him for a few moments before stepping around Clyde and spoke.

"Hello, Agent Hotchner. I am Agent Dare. I'm honored to work here, and to meet 's always been one of my personal dreams." I spoke quietly, profiling my new boss.

He didn't seem to be a man who took anyone's crap, though his response slightly surprised me.

"This is a job, Agent Dare. I'm not interested in getting to know you personally. You can go downstairs and I'm sure one of the other agents will show you your desk. Go, get to work." He spoke with an annoyed tone, and I quickly nodded and walked out of the office.

I walked down the stairs and looked around, and slowly walked over to the group of agents and noticed that the number had grown to eight and they were still staring at her. Calmly she looked at each of them before speaking quietly.

"Would one of you mind showing me my desk, please?"

The group exchanged a glance, before a petite blonde stepped forward.

"My name's Jennifer Jareau. Your desk is right here, next to Dr. Reid's, our resident genius." She spoke with a warm smile indicating the skinny man standing behind her to her left. He waved slightly and gave me a small smile which I returned quickly.

A black man stepped forward with a serious but warm expression and introduced himself.

"I'm Agent Morgan, I specialize in Obsessional Crimes." He said, while watching me, and stepped back as a brunette offered me a smile, "I'm Emily Prentiss, I specialize in Terrorism." Another brunette spoke, "I'm Alex Blake, I specialize in Linguistics." She spoke quietly, before turning to look at the other blonde.

"Penelope Garcia, Goddess of all things technical and the all knowing." She introduced as she bounced forward enveloping me in a hug. I blinked at her and let a warm smile greet her. I liked her, even though she seemed a little too bouncy for my taste.

Finally an older man stepped forward, and I recognized him instantly from many author shots in books.

"You're David Rossi. I've read many of your books." I said, with a slight smile.

"I am." He said coolly.

I looked around at the group, my new co-workers and slowly sat my bag down on my desk and looked at the stack of folders sitting there. Apparently satisfied with me, the team broke up and went to all their desks, as Dr. Reid sat down next to mine.

We had just sat down when my phone buzzed, and I opened it aware of Dr. Reid's curious gaze. A new text message, that made my heart stop.

**"I still see you, love."**

**If you'd like to see more, let me know. I have several plans for the direction of this story. However pairings haven't been decided... so if you'd like to give me some thoughts there, I'd gladly consider them. Thanks for reading! **


	2. Realizations

_**Here is Chapter Two! **_

_**I still don't own Criminal Minds**_

Two days since my first meeting with Agent Hotchner, I was sitting at my desk in the bullpen when Garcia came through announcing that we have a case. I headed to the briefing room, forcing down a fit of nervousness, as I took my seat beside Reid.

"Okay, so the lovely cowboys down in Fort Worth, Texas have a case. In the past two weeks, four bodies have been discovered, and another woman is missing. Sarah Brenndan was reported missing 29 hours ago, and we've just been called in ." Garcia began, only to be interrupted by Morgan.

"She's been missing twenty nine hours, and we're just now hearing about this?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"I know lovely, but you're gonna have to cowboy up and deal with it. Anyways, all of the information has been uploaded to your tablets and the jet is ready to leave when you are." Garcia finished in a hurry, and looked at Hotch.

"Wheels up in twenty then." Hotch said as he stood and exited.

The team filed out quickly, everyone heading to get their go-bags. I was no exception. As soon as I grabbed mine and headed towards the door, I heard a voice behind me.

"Dare, ride with me." Rossi said in a no nonsense tone.

I looked at him and nodded before following him out to his car. He didn't say anything, and as I climbed in he started the engine and pulled out of his parking space before speaking.

"How are you settling in?" He asked.

"Fine. D.C, is different but I think I like it." I replied quietly.

"That's good. Nervous about your first case?" He asked casually.

"Is it bad to admit that I am?" I replied with a smile.

He let out a chuckle, and spoke seriously.

"Hotch will keep you with one of us, but don't be discouraged. He's just not sure that he can trust you yet. I'm sure you understand that you'll have to earn it."

"I hope that I will."

"I have faith in you." He said with a small smile.

I felt a warm glow, and rested back against the seat. It felt nice to have someone on my side.

Soon enough we were on the jet, and once we hit cruising altitude we unbuckled and everyone moved to the center of the plane.

"What do we know?" Hotch asked.

"Well the victims all seem low-risk. A teacher, a waitress, a nurse, a clerk, and finally a store manager. Typically these life styles don't invite trouble." Prentiss began

"The dumpsites were high traffic areas." Morgan noted.

"Guys, I think we're missing something obvious. They all look alike. A lot alike. All dark brown hair and green eyes…" Reid began

"That's lovely." I said before realizing that I spoke aloud and my eyes widened as the whole team looked at me.

"They all do look a lot like you, Dare." Morgan noted.

"What's his motive?" I asked.

The team was quiet for several minutes, as we all reviewed the photos.

"Guys… I think I have an idea. Call my crazy but…" I began…

Hotch looked at me and said, "Go on."

"I think he's wanting them to be submissive. I recognize some of the marks." I said.

Prentiss and JJ exchanged a look, and Rossi spoke next.

"Do we even want to know?"

I let out a sigh, "My best friend in college, Kara was into that stuff. I learned a lot from what she told me. She enjoyed being dominated, and some of these bruises look like handcuff marks, and the manner that he poses them is exactly how a submissive would pose for a dominate when he wasn't involved with her."

"You know, that's not that far-fetched. That type of S&M relationship is very popular now. " Reid said matter of factly.

5 hours later, the Jet landed and we had be introduced to the chief of police, when the phone call rang through alerting us that the body of the latest victim had been found. Half of the team left, leaving Rossi, Reid, JJ, and I at the station. We worked on victimology finding no ties between each of the victims, we were on our second coffee break around eleven, when everyone came back to the station, and Hotch dismissed us to the hotel to get fresh eyes.

I rode there with Rossi, and as the team headed up as I grabbed my bag and dumped some trash in the trash cans on the corner, I never heard the man behind me. A blinding flash of pain, and my whole world went dark.

_**Cliffhanger? I know, but the good news is that if I have time, Chapter 3 will be up in the next day or so! **_

_**All mistakes regarding anything is on me. As you can tell, our lovely Agent Dare is in trouble on her first case. Will she make our crime fighters proud? Stay tuned!**_

_**As always please review! :) Thanks for reading!**_


	3. Oh Hell

_**Okay, here's chapter 3! WARNING! Rated T! This chapter maybe disturbing or triggering. Read at your own risk. **_

Chapter 3- Oh hell.

The throbbing was the first sensation I felt. My head was pounding, God, it hurt. The next thing I noticed the cold. I slowly moved my wrists only to feel metal biting into them, and felt the same sensation with my feet. Handcuffs? Unless this was some form of team initiation, that couldn't be good. I opened my eyes slowly, and took in the room around me. It was simple, painted a dark blue color, and the furniture was plain. I looked around me slowly, and realized with a jolt of uncomfortableness that I was laying on a bed, the worse part? I was in my underwear. Again, I pulled at the handcuffs, to no avail. I let out a frustrated sigh, and jumped when I heard a voice behind me.

"Good you're awake. Now you can serve me." He said as he stepped into my view.

He wasn't a bad looking man. Our premlinary profile of him, that we had delivered was pretty dead on. I looked at him, with a glare. He was taller than me and built, I'd have a hard time taking him out, even if I wasn't handcuffed. He grabbed my arm roughly, and jerked me in an upright position and pulled me towards him.

"You are here to serve me." He said simply.

Of course, my smart-ass mouth had to kick in there and I replied.

"I think you picked the wrong girl for that. I'm no ones slave."

I didn't have time to pull my head away before he backhanded me, hard. Blood flowed into my mouth, and my jaw stung where he stuck me.

"You will speak only when asked a question and you will address me as "sir" at all times." His voice was calm, too calm.

Yeah, we were going to have a problem there.

"Was I supposed to respond to that?" I asked with a smirk.

I didn't even flinch when he struck me again.

He grabbed me again, this time dragging me off the bed and as I struggled to climb to my feet he drug me out of the room. In a form of defiance, I sat down. His blue eyes iced over as he kicked me hard in the ribs and grabbed me by my hair and proceeded to drag me down the hall.

He pulled me into another room and shoved me in front of him. I looked up from where I landed, as he turned to lock the door behind him and saw a wicked sight. The room was filled with torture objects, everything from remakes from past toture devices to what looked to be homemade. As he drug me towards the chains, I made every step hell. By the time he finally got me chained up, my arms suspending me above my head, I was starting to realize the danger I was in. I never saw it coming, the blinding flash of pain as my body danced around me. All I could see was white.

Around seven that morning, Agent Hotchner was going around the hall to each of their hotel rooms to do his morning wake up call. It was one of those rare occurances that everyone had their own room, and when he knocked on Agent Dare's room he was annoyed to hear no response. He tried again, calling her name loud enough that got the rest of his agents poking their heads out of the room. Annoyed, he dug in his suit and grabbed the master key card and ran it through. He pushed in the room slowly, and was alarmed to see the bed neatly folded. Agent Dare hadn't been here.

Rossi pushed in behind him and his eyes widened. He flashed back to the night before, as she stepped away from the group to throw some stuff away. Now that he thought about it, she would have been alone for five minutes or so. He looked at Hotch, and stepped away to call Garcia.

"The goddess of technology, here. How may I be of service this fine morning?" Garcia began.

"Garcia, go back to last night's surveillance at our hotel. Check the parking lot, after the group of us headed upstairs. Dare's missing, and we need to know if something happened there."

"One second sir."

"Oh god. Guys, we have a problem."

"What is it Garcia?!"

"A man, a really big man hit her over the head with what looks to be a pipe. He picked her up and I've followed him to see him throwing her in his trunk."

The team looked around with shocked expressions visible on their faces.

"That's probably our unsub. She does look like all of his victims." Morgan said. The whole team was there now.

"Garcia, find who owns that car. Get me everything on him."

"Right away, sir."

After the first jab with the cattle prod, it didn't get any better. Apparently, my captor didn't appreciate my smart mouth, and my insubordination. However, I'd be damned if I was going to call him "sir". That wasn't going to happen. At the moment, I had a reprieve. He was fiddling with something that looked like an oxygen mask, and attaching a green hose to it.

'Oh shit', I thought, 'He's gonna gas me. Fuck.'

That's what I thought at least. I jerked my head, giving him hell, well a weaker version of my earlier hell as he forced the straps of the mask on my head. Occasionally he'd punch me in the chest, or knee me in an attempt to wind me so I'd fight less. Finally he stepped back, the malice clear in his eyes. It was as if all of his frustration and evident sadism with his earlier victims had been saved for me.

He stepped back and flicked a switch on a small machine. Immediately water poured into the mask, assaulting me. Drowning me. Fuck, was this really it?

"The man who owns the car is Derek Licoln. He's 28 recently unemployed, and recently widowed. To make matters worse, from the death records it seems that his four year old son was also killed in the car wreck that killed his wife.." Garcia began

"That's the stressor." Rossi interrupted.

"Yeah, well I have his address listed at 649 Winchester Lane."

"Thanks baby girl." Morgan said, as the team turned to head out of the police station.

Dividing into two SUV's the team sped off towards Licoln residence, Hotch, Rossi, Blake and Prentiss in one SUV & Morgan, Reid, and JJ in the other.

"Hotch, this is too easy. She's not there. He's too smart for that." Prentiss said suddenly.

Hotch's eyes met hers in the review mirror, his expression grim. Truth be told, they had no clue where she was. They knew from the profile that she wouldn't be this easy to find, otherwise they'd have caught the guy long before now.

Within twenty minutes the team had arrived and cleared the house. The house was clean in an OCD styled fashion. As Prentiss, predicted, Dare wasn't there. They were now on hour 32 and they still hadn't found her.

"I hate to be the one to remind everyone, but according to the profile we only have four more hours before he kills her. Assuming he hasn't already." Reid said quietly as the team tore apart Licoln's house.

The air was thick between everyone, as everyone poured through files. Finally Blake stood up suddenly and whipped out her cell phone.

"Talk to me." Garcia said.

"Licoln has another property. He talks about "Waverly" in his journals a lot."

"I'm not seeing anything…. Hold.. on…. Whoa."

"Garcia?"

"I don't know why I didn't see this before but his wife had a property on Waverly street. She's owned it for years."

"Thanks." Blake said, and turned to the team.

"I know where she is."

This was it. I wasn't going to survive much more. I was pretty sure I had a few broken ribs, my shoulder was dislocated, my head still bleeding. Worse I was coughing up blood. He poked me again with the cattle prod, and tears escaped. For the first time since he captured me, I actually cried.

He pushed into me again, raping me for the seventh time since this nightmare began. My body was ripping apart.

"Beg me to stop. Call me sir." He huffed as he brutally drove into me.

It was tempting. Darkness floated in the corners of my eyes, but I couldn't just pass out. I wasn't looking at him anymore. Ignoring his assault, and every blow that he delivered. My eyes never left the door. I was praying that someone would save me…soon. Before I gave up.

I tried focusing on happier memories. I thought about my first horse, and all the riding lessons that came with him. I thought about my family, and the friends I grew up with. I thought about everything but the here and now, and I avoided the thoughts that this is where I would die.

Handcuffed to the bed, I was exposed but even that didn't bother me anymore. The pain was constant but I could block that out. What I couldn't block out was the nagging voice. The voice that told me that I was fixing to die.

Suddenly I heard a noise, I barely registered it, but I heard it. The door busted in, and the first thing I saw was Morgan. He lunged at my captor, as Rossi hurried over to me, covering me with the sheets that had been ripped off the bed earlier. The rest of the team followed them, as Morgan pushed my captor into two of the city cops and turned towards me again.

"Asren?! Can you hear me?" Rossi's voice broke through the fog, and my eyes moved to him.

Reid was fumbling with something, and stepped around me, suddenly my hands and feet were free, though I didn't move.

"Get the medics." He directed to Blake, who hurried off.

Hotch came close to me, looking me over and for the first time I saw something other than the stoic Aaron Hotchner. He was actually concerned.

Rossi touched my face, trying to get me to talk to him. I just couldn't. I tried again opening my mouth only to say, "Not how I p-pictured my… first… c-case." I stammered, as the blackness over-took me.


	4. Hospitalphobia, is that a word?

**_Here's Chapter Four. Thanks for reading this far, and let me know what you think. Warning, the next few chapters are going to be intense, and deal with a lot of triggering subjects. _**

The brightly lit hospital had become the home of the BAU for the past twenty-seven hours, ever since their news agent had been brought in after spending thirty-four hours with a sadistic serial killer. The team were in a small waiting room, Blake and Prentiss were sitting beside Reid talking about random things, Morgan was pacing, and when he'd get tired he'd join Hotch and Rossi. JJ was constantly back and forth between wrapping up a press conference and getting information from the doctors on their team members condition.

A tired looking doctor came around the corner, reading his tablet and jotting down notes. "Agent Dare?" He asked the lightly crowded waiting room, and the eight members of the team stood up, and headed towards them, Hotch and Rossi in the lead.

"Agent Dare suffered a brutal beating, but I don't have to tell you that. We found indicators of over twelve areas where she suffered electrical burns, she had three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, severe bruising, and sexual assault injuries. She's been asleep for the last twenty-seven hours, and she's stablized. She's lucky to be alive, but she should be able to be discharged tomorrow morning. I want to keep her here one more night for observation before setting her up to see a doctor at home. She should be back in the field within a week or two. She's a tough one." He said.

A sigh of relief came from almost all the members of the team, as small smiles started to creep onto their worried faces.

"She's awake, and you can go back and see her. I've made notes that you all can extend the visiting hours, for all that you've done for our community." The doctor said.

Hotch thanked him, and the whole team headed down to Agent Dare's room.

Lucky to be alive, that's what we always tell victims. 'You're lucky to be alive.' Like it's some kind of blessing. I had been flipping through channels on the tv, waiting for the nurse that had been updating my charts to leave my room so I could rip out the damn IV and escape, when I heard a knock on my door. I looked at it curiously, as it opened and I was slightly surprised to see the whole team coming in.

The expressions on my team-mates faces ranged from outrage to pity, to something else I couldn't read. I smiled at them and whispered.

"Please tell me we're blowing this joint."

A chuckle escaped all of them, and Hotch replied with something that was almost a smile.

"You can leave in the morning."

Morning. Ugh. Fine, but this IV was going as soon as I could manage to get it out.

"I really hate hospitals. Hell, it's not even a hate. It's hospital-phobia." I said.

"You know technically it's called…" Reid began.

"Reid. If you tell me a technical term for hospital phobia, I will shank you." I said with a playful glare.

He let a small smile escape, but he looked slightly afraid which had Morgan roaring with laughter.

It didn't take long, and the team had settled on the extra furniture brought into my room for them and they ate the pizza that was donated complimentary by the hospital, that nearly everyone had dozed off. Everyone that is except for Hotch, Rossi and I.

Hotch and Rossi had moved closer to me, when the rest of the team settled allowing them to have the more comfortable chairs, since they probably wouldn't be sleeping anyway. A long while, silence enveloped the room, until I broke it.

"He wanted me to call him 'Sir'." I said quietly, not looking at Hotch or Rossi.

"He's a narcissist, that's what got him off." Hotch said quietly, and I could feel him watching me.

"I guess that's one of the few times that my male-authority issues actually helped me… I guess you can call it helped." I said with a small smile.

Gently Rossi took my hand and said, "You're alive. You did what you had to, to stay that way. You did good, kid."

I looked up at them, tears in my eyes for the second time in the last week and said, "It doesn't feel good."

A look passed between Hotch and Rossi, as I slowly turned me gaze away from them and rested it on the door. Minutes, hell, maybe even an hour passed before I spoke again. Finally I remembered my desire to remove the IV , and the over-whelming need over-took me. I had to get out of there. I needed to think, and I couldn't think with a room full of profilers, profiling me.

I reached across myself and pulled out the IV, ignoring Rossi and Hotch as they told me to stop, and swung my legs over the bed.

"Asren, what the hell are you doing?" Hotch asked, as the room around me stirred.

"I've got to get out of here. Have to leave." I muttered, as I stood up quickly. Too quickly, the room around me spun, and I fell forward. Something caught me, and I as looked down I realized that it was Rossi's arms.

"Easy there, kiddo." He said gruffly.

I steadied myself against him, and tried to pull myself into a standing position.

"I want to go home. I want my gun. I want my dog. I want my bed." I started rambling.

The noise brought an anxious nurse in, and as she took in my state, she tried ushering me back into my bed. I pushed her away from where I stood with Rossi's arms still around me and glared at her. By now the whole team was up, everyone trying to convince me to lay back down.

"I have to leave!" I raised my voice this time, and finally pulled away from Rossi. I made it to the door, before Morgan had his hands on me, trying to calm me down. Irrationally, I struck back and felt my fist connect with something and I trudged forward.

"Derek?!" I heard Emily say, and instantly I felt bad, but I didn't let that stop me. I trudged to the elevator and got in, as the team rushed out at me, Derek rubbing his jaw. The doors closed just before they got there, and I met Rossi's worried eyes. I could feel the tears running down my cheek as I pressed the button to the roof, and stumbled out into the cool night.

I took several deep breaths, and sank against the ground. My body throbbed, and everything hurt. My chest was on fire as I struggled to breath.

I didn't know how I long I sat there, but I didn't have it in me to turn when I heard the quiet 'ding' of the elevator. I knew who it was, I didn't need too look.

"I found her. We'll be down in a little while." Rossi said.

He walked towards me, and sat down on the ground beside me.

"Nice view." He commented.

I didn't say anything.

"It's kind of cool out here." He said, looking at me in my thin hospital clothes. Slowly he shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it around my shoulder.

"Rossi.." I said quietly.

"Mmm?"

"He told me things." I said, before turning my eyes to his.

Hotch let out a relieved sigh, and shut his cell phone turning towards the rest of the team.

"Rossi found her. He's with her now."

"What the hell happened?" Morgan asked, from where he stood.

"Guys.. She was with him for a 34 hours. I think a lot more happened then what she had to tell us. If it was me, I'd have freaked out long before she did." Emily said.

"You really can't blame her. Trauma manifests in many different ways." Reid spoke softly.

"You alright Morgan?" JJ asked, with a smile.

"Yeah. I'm good. She still has a pretty mean punch, even after what happened." He said as he rubbed his jaw again. Yeah, that was going to bruise.

"I'm going to grab some coffee, anyone else need some?" Blake said, and smiled when everyone raised their hands and Reid offered to help her.

"What did he tell you?" Rossi said, while watching the young agent. He was more worried than had been when he found her, at the look on her face.

"He knew a lot about me. He had his information straight. He told me things… about my childhood that I can't remember, but they make sense…"

The fear was visible in her eyes, and he felt a sinking feeling in his gut. His phone started ringing, and he answered it without taking his eyes off of her.

"Rossi."

"It's Hotch. Licoln is no longer in custody."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone posted bail. I'm not sure who but he's definitely out."

"Okay. Keep me updated."

"Everything okay with you two?"

"We're fine, Hotch. Why don't you guys go to the hotel. Get Asren's papers to be discharged, we'll meet you guys there soon."

"Will do, and Dave?

"Yes?"

"Take care of her."

"Always."

Rossi shut off his phone, and looked into Asren's questioning eyes.

"Bail was posted on Licoln."

Fear, absolute terror masked her features, as she looked wildly around her. God, that bastard had done a number to her in the days that he had her. She started to scramble to her feet, no longer feeling safe in the open roof, and he quickly helped her, as he himself stood.

"Asren, he won't get near you again." He said.

She shook her head, and he could feel her shaking. He pulled her into him, crushing her against his chest, as she sobbed. Her legs gave out, and he quickly caught her, scooping her up like she was a little girl. She was lighter than he expected, and he carried her easily to the elevator, and inside of it. Once the doors shut, he looked down at her, and was amazed to see that her sobbing had stopped and she had fell asleep. A chuckle escaped him, and as the elevator dinged and opened, he stepped out to meet their team. He didn't know what was about to happen, where that bastard Licoln was concerned, he just knew that Asren had one hell of a team to back her up. He'd personally make sure that she came back from this.

**Well, looks like there's a twist coming.**

**If you guys have any thoughts on pairings… now would be an epic time to announce them. I'm starting to like Rossi and Dare, but I'm still unsure.**

**Anywho, thanks for reading, and I'll get to work on the next installment.**


	5. Sleeping with the Boss

**Well here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. I'm officially having to write these as I go, so the wait will be longer unfortunately. **

**As usual, I do not own Criminal Minds. (Sadly, I may add) **

I was warm, not uncomfortably so, but warm, warmer than I had been in the hospital or in that house. That house, dread washed over me, as I opened my eyes slowly, praying that I wasn't back there again. The room that met my observant eyes was nice, but I didn't know where I was. I heard movement behind me, and two voices talking. It took me a moment to place them, but I finally placed them as Rossi and Hotch.

"She's waking up…" Hotch observed lightly, as he watched her heard her breathing change and watched her move around.

Rossi took a drink from his cup of coffee and watched her, waiting on her to face them.

Why were they in my room? What was going on? I slowly rolled over on my back, and slowly sat up before looking around quickly. I could see my go-bag sitting on the dresser and Hotch and Rossi's sitting on the floor near it. This was confusing as hell.

I turned to the senior agents, and my boss, but before I could open my mouth, Dave was on his feet walking towards me slowly.

"How do you feel, Asren? Are you in pain?"

Pain? Why would I be?- It all came rushing back, the injuries, the whole ordeal, and now that he mentioned it… I felt like I had been hit by a train. I remembered the events of the last several days clearly, and instead of answering his question, I asked my own.

"I remember hitting Morgan? Is he okay?" I asked.

A chuckle escaped Rossi's mouth, and a small smile lit Hotch's normally stoic expression.

"He's fine." Hotch said.

I could feel Rossi watching me, and I was trying to politely ignore the fact that he was profiling me, but after a few moments I just had to say something.

"Rossi, I'm alright. You can stop profiling me now. No offense… but why are you in my room or why am I in yours? How did I get here?" I asked, the words tumbling out of my mouth in a rush.

Rossi sat down on the end of my bed and looked seriously at me, and asked,

"What's the last thing you remember?"

I thought about it for a moment, and I could remember running to the roof, but everything after that was a blurr.

"I remember going up to the roof. I needed fresh air. I needed to think. To process." I said quietly.

I didn't miss the glance that Rossi threw at Hotch. Those two had a strange way of communicating without words.

"I found you on the roof, and carried you back down." Rossi said carefully.

Carried me? What was I baby? Something made little sense about that.

"You're not telling me something. However, I'll temporarily over-look that fact, seeing as I really need a shower and I would really like to find a vending machine around here and get me a Pepsi." I said, as I slowly made to stand. The world spun for a few minutes before slowly right itself, as I grabbed my go-bag and slowly maneuvered around the bed and walked into the bathroom.

I dug in my bag for a few minutes and realized my gun wasn't there.

"Hotch? Did you recover my gun and credentials?" I asked, popping my head out of the door.

"No, the forensic techs never found them…" He began.

I let out a sigh, and shut the door slowly leaning against it. I stood like that for a few moments before turning my attention back to my bag. Slowly I dug out my shower things, and arranged them how I'd want them in the shower trying to ignore the pain that was making me nauseous. Suddenly I coughed, causing my conditioner to fall out of my hands and bust on the floor. I stepped forward, and the next thing I knew I was laying on the floor.

I could hear Hotch banging on the door, asking if I was okay.

I took a deep breath and said, "G-get Em-Emily."

He quieted down for a few moments and I could hear him step away from the door and exit the hotel room.

I sat there for a few moments, thanking God that I was still clothed at least, and waited. If I was going to have to have help undressing, I was definitely picking one of the other women to help. From the details I knew about Emily, I knew she'd be the most, well she'd fit what I needed best.

I heard the door open outside and someone step in, followed by two more sets of steps. A light knock at my door, let me know that Emily was opening it, and as she stepped in and took in my predicament, she carefully came beside me and kneeled. I let out a sigh, as I looked up at her.

"I seriously have some of the worse luck." I said.

This brought a smile to her face, as she quickly assessed the mess, and offered me her hand. I took it, and unsteadily climbed to my feet. She reached out her other arm to steady me, and I could feel her looking at me closely, she was examining my injuries. My head was throbbing, in two spots now, letting me know that the cold tile floor wasn't very forgiving.

She guided me to toilet and sat me down on it slowly. She turned away and turned the water on, adjusting the temperature and then turned back to me.

"I can get these scrub pants off, but I can't get the buttons on the shirt." I said quietly.

She didn't say anything, just unbuttoned it, and politely averted her eyes as I stripped and slowly moved into the shower.

"I'll be outside with Dave and Hotch, if you need me, just yell. I'll come back in when you shut off the water." She said, kindly in her subtle way of offering me some privacy.

I heard the door open and close, and slowly turned my back against the beating of the water and just let my mind wander.

_Emily's POV_

I closed the bathroom door slowly and turned to face the two males in the room. Dave was holding a cold can of Pepsi, that I assumed was for Asren and both of their expressions looked worried.

"She's fine. She must have dropped her conditioner and when she went to clean it up, she slipped." I said slowly, gauging their expressions.

Hotch let out a relieved sigh, and leaned back against his chair taking a long drink from his coffee cup, while Dave sat the can of pepsi down and poured two cups and handed me one.

They looked at me and I could guess what they wanted to know.

"It's bad. She has bruises everywhere, cuts everywhere. She… It's bad. I'm not going to lie."

"Will she be okay?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah. I think she will. I think she's trying to compartmentalize it, must be an Interpol thing…." I mused.

"She needs to deal with it. She went through a hell of a lot of trauma." Rossi said quietly.

"So she stayed with you guys last night?" I asked.

"I wasn't going to leave her. " Rossi replied simply.

"Ah, and does she know that she slept with her boss?" I asked lightly.

A smile flickered on the older profilers mouths, as they playfully glared at me.

Suddenly the water cut off behind us, and I stood slowly and walked towards the bathroom.

_Asren's POV_

I light knock at the door came as I wrapped the fluffy hotel towel around me. The bathroom smelled like my lemon body-wash, and cold air crept in behind Emily as she quickly stepped in and closed the door.

"Feel better?" She asked.

"Tons. " I replied with a small smile.

Soon enough I was dressed, and only needed a little help with my bra and shirt, my dislocated shoulder was the problem. The muscles still weren't to fond the of the who moving idea. Once I was dressed she helped my dry my hair and straighten it, and within thirty minutes I was ready to face the men.

The bruises looked worse today, particularly the ones on my face, but I had expected that. When I opened the bathroom door, carrying my bag on my other arm, I smiled slightly at Hotch and Rossi, my eyes landing on the wonderful blue can sitting on the table. Caffine! I wasn't much of a coffee drinker, and my obsession with pepsi hadn't gone unnoticed by the profilers.

I picked up the can, fumbled with the tab-top and finally sat it on the table and reached in my pocket for my knife, and stabbed a hole in the top, and drank it quickly.

"You know, you could have asked." Rossi commented dryly.

"Yeah, but that'd take the fun out of watching your expression when I stabbed it. You looked like you thought it was going to explode." I said with a smirk.

This got a giggle from Emily, as she made to excuse herself.

"Emily?" I called as she opened the door.

"Yes?" She answered.

"Thanks."

She smiled warmly at me before exiting closing the door behind her.

"Dave. Thanks for the drink." I said, turning my eyes on him.

He smiled and nodded away my thanks and motioned at the chair, indicating that he wanted me to sit down.

As I sat down, my mind flashed back to the aftermath of one of the many times I had joined a man at a hotel room table.

_It was a cold raining morning in London, and Jullian and I had arrive late the night before. I woke up alone in our bed and rolled over to see him watching me sleep while drinking a hot cup of tea. _

_Him and his tea, he reminded me of an old man, the way he drank it. _

"_Morning, love." He said with a smile, as I slowly rolled out of the bed and walked towards him._

_I kissed him on the cheek, as I moved past him to the bathroom, and murmured, "Morning." _

_I turned on the shower, leaving the bathroom door open, a clear invitation for him to join me if he wanted too, and no sooner had I stepped in, did the curtain open behind me, and I felt his arms wrap around me, pulling me into him. I turned my face to his, and kissed him. His tounge gently caressed my lips, seeking their invitation and a small sigh escaped me as I parted my mouth. _

_When the hot water ran out, we both got out of the shower basking in the afterglow of the love that we had made. As I tried my hair, he leaned close to me, and said, "That's my favorite way to wake up." _

_I answered him with a smile, as we got dressed and met him back at the table where he was drinking his warm coffee, as if our morning interlude had never happened. But a small smile playing at the corners of his normally serious mouth, told me just how much he had enjoyed my "good morning." _

"Asren?" Hotch said.

"Uh, yeah? Sorry, I was thinking." I said quickly.

"About what?" Rossi inquired.

"The conditioner I have to replace now." I said smartly. There was no way I was going to start digging in my past with these guys.

Of course neither of them believed it, but they didn't push it.

"Licoln posted bail." Rossi said bluntly, and I felt my blood run cold.

I masked my emotions, trying to show a cool and indifferent persona.

"Really?" I asked.

The look on their faces told me all I needed to know.

"Well, are we staying here or going back?" I asked tactically changing the subject.

"Wheels are up at noon today." Hotch said before turning away.

I stood slowly and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Rossi asked

"To apologize." I replied.

Well there's chapter 5, a long one right?! Anywho, keep your eyes out for Chapter 6, and as always thanks for reading, and reviews are ALWAYS appreciated.


	6. Apologies and Veiled Threats

**Alright, here's the next installment. Of course, I still don't own Criminal Minds. Enjoy! **

The hotel was quietly milling. As I walked down the hall trying to figure out what room Morgan was in, I passed several other people who all gawked at my bruises and limping form. I stopped outside of room 243, and knocked slowly. I knew our team had doubled up, I was supposed to room with Emily but I had ended up with Rossi and Hotch. I'd either get JJ and Blake's room or Morgan and Reid's.

I heard footsteps shuffling, and the door opened slowly to reveal a tired looking, and shirtless Derek Morgan.

"Man, someone better be dead, or nearly dead, it's way to damn- Asren?" He said.

"Uh… Hi." I said quietly.

"You.. uh, you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just.." I began and broke off to look at his jaw. You could just see the slight bruising. Shit, I had done that. Guilt washed over me.

"You came to apologize?" He asked, a smile forming.

"Yeah, something like that." I said, trying to match his smile with a smirk.

"It's okay, but girl, you gotta mean punch. I think you'd give Emily a run for her money." He said with a wink.

"Is that Asren, Derek?" I heard, Reid's voice and him walking to the door. The young genius's hair was still wet, showing that he had recently showered.

"Hey Reid." I said with a small smile.

"How you feeling?" He asked, stepping closer to me.

"I'm fine. " I said, feeling like I was going to have to print a shirt with "I'm fine" on it.

I was pretty sure no one bought that, but that was my story, and I wasn't going to change that now.

Reid stepped up beside Morgan, pushing the door open further as he looked closely at me. I stood their awkwardly feeling like a messed up science experience before looking back at Morgan.

"Uh, yeah, well I'm sorry I hit you. I'll try not to beat you up again." I said with a smirk, as I turned to walk away.

Reid let out a burst of laughter, and turned away, leaving a dumbfounded Morgan, something that was supposedly a rarity staring after me. I got to our room, and could feel Morgan still watching me, annoyingly making sure I got back, and realized that I didn't grab a key. I knocked on the door, and within a moment, Hotch had opened it for me.

"Thanks." I murmured as I walked past him, and over to the bed that I had woke up on. I looked around the room, and then looked at Rossi, with a puzzled frown.

"My laptop?" I asked quietly.

Rossi and Hotch exchanged a look, "I didn't know you had one…" Rossi said, looking intently at me.

"Yeah, it was in that bag that I was carrying around, I was going to bring it in with me when we got here.." I trailed off, a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realized what had happened too it.

Hotch and Rossi exchanged a look again, and before they turned back to me, I could clearly see the worry on them.

"That was your personal laptop?" Hotch asked.

"Yes." I replied

"You brought it with you from Interpol?" Hotch asked.

"Yes."

"Did you have any work related stuff on it?" Again, he asked, his face staying carefully neutral.

"No. I have laptop in the office for that." I said with a frown, "But.. a skilled hacker could get into my work email via my laptop, I often check it at home on it, and that means he could get into the server, easily. I know a guy who could do it as fast as Garcia could, if not faster."

Rossi pulled out his phone, and stepped outside the room. I knew he was calling Garcia. Hotch looked at me, and I could see him trying to put his puzzle pieces together in his head, which again made me wonder what exactly was in my agency file.

"Hotch, can I see Licoln's file?" I asked.

He handed it to me slowly, and I quickly skimmed through it. Suddenly, I realized that I finally remembered where I recognized Licoln's name from, and it wasn't good. Oh, of course my first case with the BAU had to involve someone who was linked to the part of my life that I desperately wanted to forget.

Darren Licoln, formerly reffered to as Honest Abe, as an inside joke with my old gang. God, it seemed as if my life was going to always run in circles. I remembered the last time that we met, when we parted, Darren and I hadn't exactly been on good terms. He had always regarded me in a strange manner, but I didn't realize who he really was underneath. I didn't realize that he was a psychopath. I mentally kicked myself for not realizing who he was when he had me captive, then again, his appearance had changed dramatically from what it had been nearly twelve years ago. He had grown up a lot.

"What is it, Dare?" Hotch asked me. Apparently, again I had given away too much as I sat there thinking.

"Uh… I'm not sure. It may be nothing." I replied.

He gave me a long look and I could tell that he wanted to push it, but something was holding him back.

At that moment Rossi came into the room, and ran his hand through his hair and looked at us, "We need to brief the team, Garcia's closing down your end of the server, Asren."

I nodded and looked at them thoughtfully.

Hotch stood and exited the room, leaving a tired Rossi staring at me.

"Asren, if there's something we need to know… you have to tell us."

I looked away from him, and sighed.

"I'm not sure what it is, and I need to figure that out first." I said quietly, but with a dismissive tone.

He gave me a long look before the door opened, and our very tired looking team filed in.

JJ was first with Blake. They both smiled at me, and JJ said, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." I said for what I hoped was the last time. Blake walked over to the other bed, and sat down on the corner, as the door opened again to reveal Prentiss, Morgan, Reid, and Hotch.

"What's going on?" Morgan asked as he sat down beside Blake. Prentiss sat beside him, and Reid walked past them and sat beside me on the bed, leaving an open spot in case JJ wanted to sit. Of course, JJ and Hotch remained standing, while Rossi sat in his chair by the table.

"You all know that bail was posted Licoln and that we didn't uncover Dare's credentials and gun. However, we didn't realize until a few moments ago that he also has her laptop, cell-phone and all other forms of personal things." Hotch said into the now deathly quiet room.

"What's his endgame? We profiled him as a narcissistic serial killer." Blake asked.

"Clearly there's something more going on here." Reid said.

I looked down at my lap, trying to sort everything down in my head.

"Garcia's shut down all her credit cards, and protected her identity of course. She's also blocked Asren's things from the FBI servers, and she's on with Interpol support to have them block that as well. " Rossi said.

"Wait, did someone call Clyde?" I demanded.

"I did." Prentiss said carefully.

"Shit." I muttered. The last thing I needed to deal with was Clyde.

The team all sat there looking at me.

"Well, I suppose he may be useful…" I muttered.

"What's the plan?" Morgan asked.

"Dare won't be alone, for any amount of time until Licoln is arrested and convicted. When we get back, we'll start working on profiling his endgame. I'd say that because Dare is the only victim who survived, that his endgame will be to kill her." Hotch spoke carefully, while looking at me as if gauging my reaction.

Suddenly the hotel phone rang, and since it was sitting closest to me I reached for it.

"Hello?" I said, assuming it was the front desk.

"Hello Asren. How are you today?" Licoln said.

My blood ran cold, as I slowly reached forward and pressed the speaker button.

"I asked you a question." Licoln said with an edge to his tone.

"I'm perfectly fine." I replied coldly, my eyes meeting Hotch's.

"I'm sure that's not the case. I assume my phone call has shook you up? Hopefully you won't lose it like you did last night on the roof." He replied.

I didn't say anything, but looked back at my team. I could see Rossi murmuring into the phone, I could only assume that he had Garcia trying to trace the call.

"Luce is quiet lovely, a little too aggressive for my taste, but she'll make a nice throw rug." Licoln said.

"Touch her you son of a bitch, and I swear to God…" I began.

"Temper, temper, Asren. I wouldn't dream of hurting your darling dog, yet. However, you will pay for what you did to me, and remember darling, that all of our secrets come back to us, and it looks like some of yours are about to return ten fold." He said, and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

Again, I said nothing. I didn't need to, I knew what he was talking about instantly.

"Memento mori, sweetheart." And with that the line went dead.

Rossi continued his conversation, for a few more moments then shut off the phone. Reid, moved to close his phone and I realized that he had been recording the conversation.

"Garcia couldn't get the trace." Rossi said quietly.

I stared at the phone, before turning to my team.

"I need to borrow someones phone. "

Wordlessly Prentiss handed me hers.

I dialed a number that I had dialed thousands of times,

Brooks."

"Logan?"

"Asren?"

"Yeah, it's me. Do me a favor. Go get Luce. Take her to your place. I'm out on a case, I'll come get her when I get home. She's in danger."

"What's going on?"

"I'll explain later."

"Asren… are you okay?"

"I'm fine. "

"Okay, I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, thanks, Logan."

"Always."

I handed Emily her phone, and let out a sigh. I could feel the team looking at me, the questions hung in the air.

"Luce is my German Sheppard. Excellent tracking dog, police trained. She's saved my life many times, and is a wonderful partner." I said quietly.

No one said anything, just kept staring at me.

"Logan works for the CIA. We go way back, he'll take care of her until I get home." I continued.

Still I was met with silence and thoughtful looks.

Finally, Hotch broke the silence.

"Alright, go pack up we need to be on the jet in thirty."

The team quickly dispersed, leaving me with my bosses as I quickly packed everything into my go-bag.

A wave of dizziness passed over me, and I slowly sat down onto the bed.

"Asren?" Rossi intoned.

"I'm alright." I said automatically.

I stood up again, too quickly and everything went black.

**_Of course, "Logan Brooks" is another OC character, and that means that he's mine. As is the idea of Luce, the dog. Darren Licoln and Jullian are also my characters, you got a flash-back of that Jullian character last chapter. Let's just say a huge twist is in store where he's concerned. _**

**_Towards the end, when Agent Dare passed out, I just want you to remember that she did suffer extensive injuries though I really don't dwell on the pain that she's in. Out of all her injuries, the should dislocation was probably the worse, excluding the mental trauma. The mental aspects will make a later appearance, I promise. No one goes through something like that without scars. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm working on the 7th chapter as I type this! As always I welcome you to review! _**

**_I'd also like to thank everyone who has left a review, I really appreciate it! _**

**_-Freedom _**


	7. Plane Talks

**Well hello again, I apologize for the wait, but I'm having to balance writing between two jobs and full time college life. This chapter has some dark hints, but it's not too bad. Enjoy. **

The next time I woke up, the room was light and a doctor in dark purple scrubs was standing next to me.

"Ah, Agent Dare, glad you finally joined us. I'm Dr. Roberts, it seems that your concussion was much worse than we immediately thought. I'm aware that you flight was delayed an hour for this consult, and I've assured your supervisor that you can go home. I want you to take it easy on the plane, and take these pain killers. When you get home go straight to the ER. I'll have your case forwarded to the Nuero Attending there, he will be expecting you."

I let out a groan. MORE hospitals?!

Hotch walked in, and nodded at the doctor respectfully. They shook hands, and a nurse stepped forward to usher me into a wheel chair. I glared at her, then up at Hotch as he took it and wheeled me out to the SUV. The whole team was waiting, and again Morgan practically picked me up and put me in the SUV, sitting close to me for the ride to the airport.

Soon enough we were on the jet, and I was ushered again to the couch, and sat down. I glared at my team, oh if looks could kill…..

I leaned back against the couch and grudgingly accepted the bottle of water and the pills that Hotch handed me. Swallowing the bitter capsules, I rested my head against the arm rest, and waited for the plane to take off.

I wasn't waiting long, about fifteen minutes later the engines roared to life and another fifteen and we were gaining altitude. When the pilot announced that we were cruising, the team unbuckled and moved around. I watched them with glare as I was forced to lay on the couch. Every time I tried to get up someone would ask me what I wanted, and get it for me. Finally I just gave up and let out a loud, and obnoxious annoyed sigh. I turned my head away from them and closed my eyes.

_The Team's POV_

The ride home on the jet was usually one of the few times that the team was all together, and we were relaxing. This ride however was different, the team was milling around the table that he was sitting at beside Prentiss. Every few minutes or so one of the team would look over at their newest Agent, and he could tell everyone was worried. Hotch let out a sigh, as he shut the folder he had been reviewing.

"So you think that he's in DC?" Morgan asked quietly.

"He knew about her dog…" Hotch said.

"We've worked with her for over a week now and we didn't know about her…." Reid said quietly.

"None of us have bothered to ask…. " Prentiss mused.

A guilty look flashed between his team, at their lack of open friendliness to their newest teammate.

A whine echoed around the plane and everyone turned back to Asren who was thrashing in her sleep. "no…" She muttered. As she jerked her head from the foe that only she could see. "Stop. Not them." She muttered. She rolled over, and Hotch glanced around his team, feeling proud of their new-found family sense with Asren. Everyone was staring at her worriedly

"Not…No… Jullian…. Please…" She muttered then slowly got quiet.

The team watched her for another moment before turning back to me, "Who is Jullian?" Reid asked the question that we were all thinking about.

Hotch looked blankly at his team, he had no clue who that was. Suddenly the laptop sitting on the table lit up as the bubbly face of Penelope Garcia lit up the screen.

"Who's the most wonderful and amazing person in the world?" She asked with a smile.

"That'd be you baby girl, hands down. What you got us?" Morgan replied with an easy smile.

"Well, like you asked, Morgan, I looked up "Logan Brooks" for you, and the hit that I had told me that he was a CIA agent. He has a file with our lovely Agent Dare, but it's sealed. Of course I could easily break the seal if that's needed…"

"That's fine baby girl, I just wanted to be sure he was safe." Moragn cut her off.

"Anything else I need to run?" Garcia asked, and when she was met with no immediate answer, she asked, "How's our lovely Asren doing?"

"She's sleeping right now, Garcia." Emily answered.

"Oh good, after that horrible ordeal she probably needs her rest, and you know that sleep is the best medicine, and oh when she's back do you think she'll want to go eat? I'm starving…"

"Baby girl, calm down. We won't be back for another five hours, go eat! Anyway Dare's gotta go to the ER when she gets back…" Morgan said.

"ER? Why?! I thought she was okay?!" Garcia said frantically.

"She's okay, the doctor just requested it. Calm down." JJ said in a soothing voice, as if she was talking to Henry.

"Okay, I'm going to go eat. You, my darlings, take care of my other darling. Toodles!" Garcia said as the screen went black.

"You had Garcia check Brooks out?" Hotch asked Morgan with a raised eye-brow.

"I was just taking a precaution…." Morgan muttered.

Prentiss let out a sigh and leaned back. "So what's our game plan? Obviously she can't stay alone…"

"I'd volunteer my house, but Henry… and Will and a dog…" JJ said.

"Sergio doesn't exactly do dogs…" Emily said with a frown.

"Jack and a dog…." Hotch began, with a thoughtful expression.

"She'll stay with me. Mudgie will get along well with any dog." Rossi said firmly, before the debate went any further.

"Okay, I'll have Strauss put us on stand-down until we find this guy. I don't want her alone for a moment. "

Everyone nodded, satisfied with the debate, and slowly spread back out to catch a nap.

"You sure about this Rossi?" Hotch asked.

"Yup. We'll be fine." Rossi said easily.

Less than thirty minutes later, a sharp ring from Hotch's phone pierced the jet. Asren sat up slowly, as if she knew it involved her. The number was one that Hotch didn't recognize and as the team woke up, and watched him he answerd.

"Hotchner."

"Hello, Agent Hotchner."

"Licoln."

"How is your flight going? I see you have about an hour until you land."

At that point Asren walked slowly towards Hotch and Prentiss stood up allowing her to sit next to him. She looked at him, and let out a small sigh when he nodded.

"What do you want, Licoln?"

"Ah, Asren, your awake, lovely. I just wanted to remind you about something."

"What's that?" Asren asked dryly.

"Our secrets tend to have a bigger impact than we expect them too, and I must say I'm amused at how little of our endeavor you seem to remember. It's like our time together was an injection into your life, eh?"

To her credit, Asren didn't take his bait.

"If you have nothing useful to say to me, Goodbye." She said as she pressed the end button.

Hotch looked at her, his dark eyes studying her.

"What did he mean, Dare?" Hotch asked quietly.

She didn't answer him, directly, but reached for his phone and dialed another number, leaving it on speaker.

It rang three times and then a tired voice answered it.

"Brooks."

"Logan? It's me."

"Hello me, why are you calling so damn early?" Logan asked, and the team could detect a smile in his voice.

"I need your help. Moreso, Darius's." Asren said slowly.

"What's going on?"

"I believe I have a tracking chip somewhere in me. While working a case, I was, well, just get Darius. We land in an hour. I want this thing out of me the moment I land."

"Asren.." Logan began.

'"Logan, If you refuse, I'll cut it out myself…"

"We all know how well that worked out the last time, fine, I'll call Darius. We'll meet you there." He said quietly.

"Thanks."

"Always."

Asren pressed the END button and pushed Hotch's phone back at him, and looked at the team.

"I was once injected with a tracker. I knew it was endangering us so I tried to cut it out myself, didn't end that well." Asren said showing the team a nasty scar on her arm.

"A what?" Morgan asked peering at her.

"A tracking chip. It's like your cars GPS." Prentiss and Asren said at the same time. They exchanged a look, before Asren spoke again.

"Anyway, some of my friends, are meeting us at the airport. Darius will take it out then." Asren said simply.

"Why can't you wait till you get to the hospital?" Hotch asked quietly.

"No. I refuse to let him have one more piece of information on me to manipulate me." Asren said bitterly. She extended her forearm and looked at it, studying her skin quietly. She could see several bruises and cuts all over her arm, but she wasn't sure exactly what they were from. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the team.

"I want a cognitive interview." She said simply.

A dark look passed between the team, no one really wanted to make Asren relive every moment of that, but they also knew that it was a good chance to get more information on it.

"Are you sure?" Hotch asked.

"Positive." Dare replied.

"Who do you want to do it?" Hotch spoke quietly,

"I don't care." Asren spoke quietly.

Hotch looked around at his team, measuring their expressions. In less than a minute he knew he'd only let Prentiss, Rossi, or himself do it.

"Prentiss?" Hotch prompted.

The dark haired woman looked up at Hotch, a silent communication passing between them before she nodded slowly.

Asren looked at her, and watched as Prentiss stood slowly, and then followed her as she moved to the back of the plane and the majority of the team moved to the front respectfully. Hotch and Rossi followed slowly. They had to hear this, too, not that anyone actually looked forward too it.

_**Well there you have it, the next chapter will have the cognitive interview and it will be rated, M. It may be triggering so if you need to skip it, no hard feelings. As always I welcome your reviews. **_


	8. Cognitive Interview & Riding the Dog

_**Well lovelies, here's chapter 8, and let me warn you that it's the longest so far! It's over 3,000 words, and it's pretty dark in spots. Parts of this may be triggering and disturbing so please READ WITH CAUTION! I didn't realize that my line breaks weren't showing up in my chapters until very recently, and I apologize profusely for that! I'll try to be more careful with that, anyways! PLEASE enjoy! **_

I moved to the back of the jet, and Emily sat at the table booth in front of me. Rossi sat down beside me, leaving Hotch to sit by Emily. I took a deep breath and looked at her, waiting on her to start.

"Alright, take a deep breath and close your eyes. I want you to go back to the first night of the case, we're all at the hotel and heading in. What do you see?"

"It's dark, kind of cold, and I'm moving some stuff around in the SUV, trying to combine my go-bag with my laptop bag."

"What do you hear?"

"A car idling, and footsteps. Someone's walking towards me. I'm moving my laptop over, when I feel it, he hits me. Hard."

"What next?"

"He picks me up, easily, and carried me towards the car."

"What kind of car is it?"

"I don't know, my head, it hurts."

"You looked at it…" Emily insisted.

"White, white. It was white."

"Then?" She prompted.

"He opened the trunk and dumped me into it, I cut my arm then on the crowbar laying at the bottom. I could feel the blood running."

I took a deep breath, and began again.

"He got in the car, and I could hear bits and pieces of a song, it was a quiet piano number. It was the first thing about him that scared me."

"What's the next thing you remember?"

"I must have fell asleep, because I remember being picked up again and carried into the house. He didn't lock the door, and he carried me into a small room. I felt him touch my face, and I guess I fell asleep again."

"I woke up, I guess it was the next morning. I was laying in the bed. The room was painted blue, and the furniture was minimum, but looked nice. My hands were handcuffed behind me, the metal was biting into my skin. I sat up slowly and he spoke from behind me. 'Good you're awake, now you can serve me.' He said. He jerked me towards him, I can feel his fingers squeezing my arm to hard, that's going to bruise. 'You're here to serve me.' He repeated."

Rossi reached over and gently covered my hand with his, I knew he could hear the tremor in my voice.

_Rossi's POV_

I gently squeezed Asren's hand as she talked about the room that he had drug her too. As she recounted him kicking her in the ribs, I felt another wave of anger rush over me. I glanced at Hotch, and knew that he was feeling the same way.

"He drug me over to a chair and slammed me into it. I think I smacked my head on the back of it and blacked out for a few seconds because the next time I opened my eyes he was.." Asren spoke, her voice dropping.

"Go on." Emily urged quietly.

"His fingers were inside of me." Asren whispered.

I squeezed her hand again, my heart breaking for the young agent. Emily winced, and gave Hotch a dark look.

" I can't remember how long it lasted. I remember him telling me to ask him to stop, to call him sir. I wouldn't beg." She finished with a spat. Towards the end, he moved his hand to my throat and choked me. I struggled against him, until I finally passed out from that." Asren stopped and took a deep breath.

I took at moment to look at her closely, and I could see the dark bruises around her neck. The bastard had to have choked her more than that first time. I wondered how much she couldn't remember.

"When I woke up again, he was sitting beside me. He spoke to me for a little while before pulling up a pump. I saw the oxygen mask and I assumed he was going to gas me." Asrens voice started to shake, "He attached a hose to it, and forced it on my head. He flicked a switch and water filled the mask." Tears silently ran down her face here, and I could just picture how terrified that she had to have been. I did notice that the cognitive interview seemed to have stopped and that now the three of us were just listening to everything she told us.

What did he tell her? I wondered, with a sad sigh. She had seemed pretty shaken up by it last night on the hotel's roof and in her sleep on the plane and in the bed at the hotel, she had murmured the name 'Jullian'. He wondered who he was, he must have been significant in her life.

"He ripped off the mask, and drug me over to this empty spot on the floor. He pulled a whip off of the wall, and smacked me with it. When he was done there, and realized that wouldn't get me to talk he drug me back to a bed in the far corner of the room and threw me down on it. He left then, and I got a chance to look around though I couldn't move." She said.

"I don't know how long he was gone, and I guess I fell asleep but when I woke up he was laying in the bed next to me, his arm wrapped around me. I tried to move away but his arm tightened around me, so I rolled over on top of him and choked him. His eyes snapped open, and I could see the rage in them. He pushed me off of him and threw me into the wall. I think that was when my shoulder dislocated. He kicked me several times and left the room. I passed out again, I guess because when I woke up I was handcuffed to the chair and he had… had sex with me again. I fell asleep again, and woke up as he pushed himself inside of me again. "

I looked at her and mentally counted. Four times, the son of a bitch had raped her four times, in what sounded like the first forty-eight hours of having her.

"I remember the cattle prod again," She said referring to the first painful encounter she had endured, "I remember he had sex with me two more times and I kept blacking out… Then I woke up again back in the blue room."

That was the room we had found her in with that bastard raping her again. I remembered seeing how broken she looked handcuffed to the bed, as I pulled a sheet over her to respect her privacy. Seven times total, that she could remember she had been raped.

"Asren?" I prompted, as I gently brushed some of the tears off her face.

She looked up at me, her beautiful green eyes raw with emotion.

I held my arm out, and pulled her close to me, letting her cry into my chest as I looked at Hotch and Emily. I could see how much this revelation bothered them even though they had their faces composed.

She pulled away from me slowly, and said, "Can I? I need too.. Can I get out" She asked, as I moved for her to get out. She walked slowly to the bathroom and disappeared inside and locked the door.

"God… I didn't realize…" Emily began.

"None of us did." Hotch said quietly.

I knew Emily had been through hell with her work with the CIA, and with Doyle, and I wondered if any knowledge of that is why Asren reached out to her. In a way, Asren reminded me of Emily, with the way that she seemed to compartmentalize things, and her generally mysterious nature.

A few minutes later, Asren exited the bathroom and walked back towards us.

"I know where it is." She said simply.

"The chip?" Prentiss prompted.

"Yes. It's here." She said and indicated a point on her fore-arm.

All of us leaned to get a closer look, and could see the bruising around the area that she pointed at.

"We'll be landing momentarily. Please buckle up." The pilot intoned as I slid over allowing Asren to sit down.

_Asren's POV_

The moment the jet landed, I stepped towards the door and quickly walked down the steps. I looked up to see a black SUV waiting, and Logan leaning up against it, and Darius standing beside him. I wasted no time and walked immediately over towards them, okay, well I limped towards them. Logan started walked towards me quickly and took my bag from m. He wrapped his arm around me to hold me steady and directed me to the back of the SUV. Darius had set up a place in the back to work on me, and was bringing over some more supplies from the other car.

As soon as I sat down, he dissapered, and then I heard him talking to Hotch who was walking towards us.

"What the hell happened to her?" He demanded.

I could hear Hotch explaining what had happened quietly, and before Logan could blow up on him I interrupted.

"Logan! Where's Luce?" I asked.

"Hold on." He replied.

I heard him open another door and suddenly a large german sheppard jumped out and came barreling towards me.

"Luce!" I said with a smile as she jumped up beside me, licking me gently. I ran my hands through her thick black and brown fur and kissed her gently on the head. Luce had brought me through a lot, and just having her near me, calmed me down.

Logan walked around then, and the BAU team followed staring at the large guy shuffling in the truck.

"Guys, this is Logan and that's Darius." I said indicating the man now walking towards us.

Both of my guys nodded politely at the team, as Hotch briefly introduced them. Darius by-passed them and set his medical bag beside me, and pulled out a scalpel. Rossi glanced at him apprehensively, and walked around the team and towards me, holding out his hand. I placed mine in his gratefully, and gave him a small smile.

"Logan, I need you to hold her arm. Once I start do not let go." Darius said quietly.

Logan grabbed my left arm, the one closest to Luce and she let out a low growl.

"Enough." I said quietly, and she laid her head down, with a small sigh.

"Wait does anyone have a belt?" Logan said suddenly glancing at the team.

Morgan nodded and took his off handing it to Logan, who then handed to me, and told me to put it in my mouth and bite down.

I could see general astonishment among the team, and I looked at Darius.

He lifted his hand with the scalpel in it, and hovered just above my fore-arm.

"You're sure?" He asked.

"Absolutely." I muttered. Pain flared through me as he cut into me. I bit into the belt to keep from crying out, and I could feel Rossi squeeze my hand tightly. He had felt me tense up.

"Relax, Asren. It's between muscles. If you tense up, you can lose function of your arm." Darius said quietly, a small sad smile playing on his lips at the glare that I shot him.

I thought the initial cut hurt, but what was hell was when he started digging around looking for the small chip. I could feel wetness on my face, and suddenly realized they were tears.

"Ah, there she is." Darius said quietly and pulled a small chip from my arm, I felt darkness start to creep over me. I felt myself sinking back and felt someone's arm go around me, holding me up.

_Team and Assorted peoples POV _

Rossi felt Asren's body sag, and quickly wrapped his arm around her supporting her into a sitting position. He watched as her friend, Darius, he was called quickly wrapped her arm, to stop the bleeding. The cut hadn't been big, but as Morgan's belt fell from her mouth, he could see where she had bit into it. It looked quite painful. After all that she had been through this week, he assumed that was why the incision had bothered her so much.

Logan loosened his grip on Asren's arm and watched as she slumped into the arms of the older man sitting beside her. He had heard a lot about David Rossi, some things good and something not so good. He was a hell of a profiler, but a rumored ladies man. Logan just hoped that he wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything with Asren. She didn't need any more let downs in the boyfriend department.

"Can we get her to the hospital now?" Hotch asked quietly.

Darius nodded, and turned to look at the team. In that moment, Logan stepped forward and reached to pick up Asren halting only when Luce snarled at him.

"Luce, heel." He commanded sharply and glared at the dog until she dropped her head. Luce didn't really listen to anyone except Asren.. and Jullian, who had trained her but she somewhat respected Logan enough to trust him with her human. Logan picked up Asren and carried her to front of the SUV and sat her in the seat.

When he stepped around the car to the drivers side, Rossi appeared and glanced at the back seat. Logan nodded and the older man opened the door and got in. Logan started the car and watched as the BAU trudged towards their own cars. He waited for them to get in and started his engine. He slowly pulled from his parking space and gradually sped up as he turned down the winding road and back towards the city. Asren opened her eyes and looked over at him, and let out a sigh.

"You okay kiddo?" Rossi prompted her from the back.

"I'm fine." She murmured with a long look over her shoulder. She let out a sigh, and turned so that she was sitting sideways in the seat, her head resting on the back of the seat.

Logan accelerated the SUV, trying to get to the hospital faster, but traffic was making it difficult. Finally with a long look in the rearview mirror, he reached up and flicked on his police lights and weaved through traffic as they moved out of his way. In less than ten minutes he was pulling up to the emergency entrance, and he quickly parked his car and ran to her side, picking her up and rushing her in. A nurse directed him to a bed, and he sat her down and was ushered away to move his car. Rossi had stepped around him and went to deal with the paper work, as the rest of the team and Darius filed in and moved to the waiting room.

As soon as he had parked the SUV, Logan came rushing in with Luce at his heels and quickly found the BAU team with Darius sitting calmly among them.

"Darius?" Logan prompted seriously.

"No word, but-" Darius began to reply only to be interrupted by a nurse.

"Sir you can't have a dog in here. This is a hospital."

Logan didn't spare her a glance as he held up his CIA badge and said, "Service dog."

The nurse began to protest, but Logan glared at her to shut it. He came around and sat down beside Darius and commanded Luce to lay down. Then with a tired glance at the BAU, he leaned back against his chair and waited.

_Team's POV Including Logan & Darius_

Alex Blake and Spencer Reid had gotten the team coffee again about an hour ago and now she was leaned back against her chair engaging in small talk with her team. Everyone was worried about their newest agent, including herself. Spencer let out a sigh, and cast another worried look at the waiting room doors and then looked at the two additions to their waiting party. She had been impressed by Darius's skill and ability to control the situation as he removed the chip from Asren's arm, and had been amazed again by the strength that the young agent had showed. Alex wasn't entirely sure what she would have done in Asren's situation.

Aaron Hotchner sipped the luke-warm cup of coffee that Blake and Reid had brought him and the rest of the team as he analyzed the status of his team. Suddenly the doors opened, and in walked Will carrying a tired looking Henry.

"JJ." Hotch prompted gently, nodding at the door.

The young blonde stood quickly and walked over to her husband embracing him and her son. The spoke quietly for a couple of minutes before they moved back towards the group and Will sat down beside Rossi who immediately began filling him in on what happened. Henry had crawled into his mothers lap and began asking questions about the dog laying at the mans feet that JJ had been eyeing apprehensively. She still hadn't completely gotten over her fear of dogs, since the Tobias Hankel event.

As if hearing that she was being asked about the young german sheppard stood up, and under Logan's careful eye walked slowly towards the young boy, her tail wagging gently. Henry let out a delighted squeal and climbed off JJ's lap and crawled towards him. She looked up at Logan, who smiled slightly indicating that Luce was friendly to kids.

Henry petted her happily, and squealed in delight as she licked his face. This brought quiet chuckles from the team, as the dog padded around to each individual member, stopping at Morgan who picked Henry up and sat him on the dogs back. Luce stood carefully and played a good sport as the young boy wound his hands in her fur as Morgan walked beside the pair as they walked around visiting with everyone.

The doors opened again, and a young doctor entered with a kind face.

"Family of Asren Dare?" He asked.

**_Cliffhanger?! I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait to see how she is after I write it. I do know that the twist with Darren Licoln is coming up and also more information about her past and how her past ties in with one of our other agents. (Any guess on which agent?!) Thanks for reading, and reviews are ALWAYS appreciated. Have a lovely day/evening/night! ~Freedom _**


	9. Pompous Ass-hat

_**Alright, here's chapter 9 it's a little shorter than the rest, and it's honestly a filler chapter. I just got his with tons of muse for where I want this story to go next, and I just can't seem to type fast enough! Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and I hope your happy too see a familiar face re-appear. **_

_Spencer Reid's POV_

I had been sitting beside Alex, in the waiting room waiting to hear what the doctors would say about Asren and I couldn't stop the statistics from racing through my head. He knew Asren suffered from Nosocomephobia, or the hospital-phobia as she had called it. I tried to focus on other things, like Henry riding around on Luce, and how much fun he was having with her. It seemed like we were all trying to focus on other things when the doctor walked in.

"Family of Asren Dare?" The young but kind looking doctor prompted.

The whole group stood up, and he looked around slightly overwhelmed.

"She's been asking for a Jullian?" He asked, looking around hopefully.

"I'm afraid he won't be here." Another person said, with a slightly familiar British accent. A lean blonde man stepped around the doctor and nodded at the group, giving a pointed look to Hotch and Prentiss.

I noticed that Logan glared at him, and wondered what was going on there. Curiously I watched the exchange.

"Clyde Easter. This is her team, and her.. er friends. That's the closest to family as she has." He said in his trade-mark lazy drawl.

The young doctor looked uncomfortable, but nodded at the British man.

"Alright. I'm Doctor Henderson, I'm a Neurology -resident here, and I'm over-seeing Agent Dare's case. I've been made aware by the doctor that treated her in Texas, that she had been held captive for thirty four hours and suffered a dislocated shoulder, head injury, sexual assault injuries, burn injuries, and superficial injuries. I'm was also made aware by my nurse that she had a tracking chip removed in the field. Excellent work, I must say." The doctor rambled on only to be interrupted by Logan.

"The point if you please." He said curtly. I didn't really like this Logan fellow. He seemed off to me.

"Ah, yes, Agent Dare is currently being moved to a normal room. I'd like to keep her here for a couple of days to keep and eye on her head injury. The rate that she has been passing out at alarms me. She's relatively stable and was giving my interns hell the last time I checked. I'll be back to check on her in the next hour, her room is 358 and you may all go see her.. Is that a dog?" He finished.

"Yes. It's Agent Dare's service dog." Logan said in a blatant lie, that earned him a dirty look from Hotch.

The doctor gave the dog another dumbfounded look and then gave a half-hearted smile as he turned and walked out of the waiting room.

Logan turned to face Clyde with a glare, to which Clyde said,

"Brooks."

"Easter."

The two men stared each other down, that was until Hotch interrupted.

"Easter. Who's Jullian?" Hotch asked

A quick look exchanged between Logan and Clyde, before Clyde shrugged.

"That's not my story to tell, Agent Hotchner. As far as I know he's dead." Clyde said carefully.

I stepped closer to JJ, and smiled at Henry.

"Can we go see her now?" I prompted, and was relieved with the nods I got as we turned to walk into hopefully the last hospital room for a while.

* * *

_Asren's POV_

I was seriously getting sick of hospitals. Usually I had more patience with doctors even though I couldn't stand the idea of a hospital, but tonight I was exhausted, and being a total bitch.

"No IV." I said again glaring at the intern.

"Ma'am you need fluids, and I can give you pain killers this way. I know you've been through a lot-" The young intern began, only to have me interrupt them again.

"Been through a lot?! Get the hell out. I don't want the damn IV or the damn pain killers!" I shouted.

The intern scurried out of the room and moments later it opened again.

"I thought I told you to get out." I said without looking at the door.

"That's no way to greet me, sweetheart." I heard an all too familiar British drawl.

Clyde. Fucking. Easter.

"What do YOU want?" I asked him, turning to give him my best go to hell glare.

"Get the stick out of your ass. I had to come see that you were okay. Believe me, this isn't what I want to be doing with my vacation time." He growled.

"I'm alive. Please leave." I snapped and turned away from him again.

I heard him sigh, and I heard footsteps, and felt someone touch me.

"Get the hell off of me." I snarled.

An arm wrapped around me, and another body joined me on the bed. I turned into them only to realize that it was Logan, who pulled me closer to him. I pulled away, until I smelt him. Logan, he smelt like home, and I let my head rest against his chest.

I let out a deep breath and choked on a sob. He rubbed my back, and I let it go.

* * *

_Logan's POV_

I had never liked Clyde Easter. Honestly, I thought that he was a pompous asshat, and as I followed him to Asren's room, I found myself battling the overwhelming desire to kick him in the ass. Childish, I know.

I listened as Asren asked him to leave, and stepped in the room past him and towards her bed. I climbed up in it, fully aware that now the whole BAU team had caught up and that they were watching. I felt Asren fight me for a moment, and when she realized it was me, she curled up into me, looking everything like the fragile kid that I had first found on my first assignment as an agent.

As she cried into my chest, I turned and gave the now entering BAU a sad smile and continued to stroke her back gently. I looked at her, taking in every bruise on her small battered body. She had been through hell in the last couple of days. I could feel a pit of anger building in my gut, and as if she could feel it, she looked up at me.

"I'm okay." She whispered.

"Don't say that. You're not okay." I muttered, giving her a hard look.

I could hear Clyde talking to the members of the BAU, Asren laid her head down on my chest again and slowly her sobs began to subside, as she fell asleep.

"How long have you known Asren?" David Rossi asked me quietly.

"About three years now. What do you know about her history?" I replied.

"Not much, her file was pretty sparse. Said she was recruited by Interpol about three years ago." Rossi replied.

I looked up at Clyde, and slowly untangled myself from Asren.

"Easter. Outside." I said harshly.

I pushed past the BAU team, and stepped into the hall. He followed a minute or to later.

"What do you want Brooks?" He asked in a harsh tone.

"Why is Asren even here? Was she compromised?" I asked quietly.

"No. I just thought it prevalent to her safety to move her." Clyde said coldly.

"You never gave a damn about her safety." I said cuttingly.

"Watch it, Brooks." He said, and I could see him tense up as he stepped threateningly towards me.

"Clyde." A quiet but powerful woman's voice said.

I looked over my shoulder to see Emily Prentiss, and stepped back from Clyde giving her a curt nod.

"If you want this piece of filth, take him." I said, as I walked back into Asren's room.

Darius looked at me, and gave me a half smile then went back to flipping through Asren's chart, which prompted the blonde woman, JJ to speak.

"Isn't that illegal?" JJ asked with a look at the chart.

"Are you going to tell?" Darius asked without looking up at her, earning a chuckle from the rest of the BAU team.

"Seriously though.. that's a privacy invasion." Emily said as she entered the room with Clyde following her with a disgruntled look.

"He's taken care of her more times than he can count. If anyone has any reason to read that chart… it's him." I said quietly.

I looked over at him and asked, "How's she doing really?"

He let out a sigh and looked up at all of us taking another deep breath before speaking. "The doctors didn't down-play it too much. This head injury worries me. She shouldn't have left the hospital the first time. She certainly didn't need to hit it again." He said with a slight smile.

* * *

_Rossi's POV_

Years of profiling had taught me several things, and it didn't take a profiler to read Logan Brooks. He really cared for Asren, and by the way she acted around him, I'd assume that he was one of her closest friends. This also made me wonder about the nature of their relationship. I found his interaction with Clyde Easter to be a curious one, and he wondered what exactly happened between all of them.

His dark eyes wandered over to where Asren was sleeping, and a small smile graced his mouth when he realized that she didn't have an IV. He wondered if she just didn't like needles and that was the root of her Nosocomephobia. He looked at the clock, and then again at his team, Clyde, Darius and Logan who were stretched out in the various chairs around the room. JJ had left to go home to her family with a promise to be back in the morning, and Garcia had joined them to wait on Asren to wake up.

Logan had climbed back into the bed with Asren, being very careful so as not to wake her as he curled his body protectively around her and dozed off. Asren's dog had lept up on the hospital bed and carefully arranged herself at her masters feet. By now, most of the team were dozing, and the few who were still awake were merely waiting on sleep to find them. Clyde sat next to Emily, who was dozing with her head on Morgan's shoulder.

I let out a sigh, and leaned my head back against the wall, and let sleep slowly over take my mind.

* * *

_**Well I finally figured out the line issue that I've had for 8 chapters now, so I hope this was easier to follow. As always, please feel free to review. **_


	10. Feeling Better

_**A/N- Sorry for the delay in posting Chapter 10, it's a bit dry but I needed the filler chapter. Enjoy. **_

* * *

_The next morning, Asren's POV _

It was quiet, and I could hear the steady humming of machines and the steady sound of someones heartbeat. I opened my eyes slowly and with a glance realized that I was laying across Logan's chest. I looked around the room, and could see that my team was still sleeping. I felt much better today, and I reached up and put my hand on Logan's mouth, covering it.

His green eyes opened instantly, and he looked at me, smiling. I glanced at my team and made a "ssshing" motion with my finger to my mouth. He nodded and watched as I quietly slipped off the bed. I walked around quietly, stopping every time someone's breathing changed until I got where I wanted. Luce picked her head up and curiously watched me, as I took a deep breath.

I picked my way around the team and walked out to the hall and over to the nurses station. A friendly looking nurse looked at me with a smile as I asked for a cart of coffee to be delivered to my friends, explaining who they were. She assured me that she'd have a breakfast cart delivered, with a smile. I crept back into the room and sat down on my bed.

I looked around at my team, and my assorted guests and smiled. Sure enough, I had only been awake for twenty minutes when a smiling nurse wheeled in a cart full of food and coffee. I thanked her generously and turned to see my team waking at the smell of food. Luce hopped off the bed and gently went around nosing each of the agents, and as they all sat up stretching they looked at me in a confused manner.

Once everyone was awake I took a deep breath, and said, "I'm fine guys. Eat. You deserve it."

I happily took a bagel and looked around for the can of pepsi I had requested before moving back to my bed. My head still throbbed, but it wasn't anything I couldn't ignore. The solid eight hours of sleep had helped me feel better. I still felt like I had been hit by a train, but I had successfully compartmentalized it. I was fine.

"How do you feel?" Reid asked tentively.

I gave him a warm smile and said, "Aside from my Nosocomephobia, I feel fine."

He gave me a sheepish smile back and I couldn't help but giggle at everyone elses confused expression.

"That's the technical term of hospital-phobia guys." I said between laughs.

I certainly felt a lot better today, but of course somehow I knew that the other shoe was going to drop, so to speak. A knock at the door confirmed my suspicions.

"Come in." I said.

A young doctor walked in, nose in a clipboard, and looked up at our group in surprise.

"Ah, Agent Dare? How are you feeling today?" He asked with a smile.

"Better. I'd feel fantastic if I could leave." I said suggestively.

He let out a chuckle, and then said, "I understand that but we encountered a problem."

The atmosphere of the room changed instantly, almost as a fast as a blink of an eye.

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"Due to your head injury, there may be more damage than we once thought. I want to run some tests to make sure that nothing more is wrong, but you should be prepared to face the worse." He said with a somber expression.

The tension in the room grew so thick that it made pea soup look runny.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Agent Dare, I fear that your abilities as an agent may be compromised. I'm worried about latter symptoms such as random black outs and loss of muscle function. These tests will tell us if there is a problem or not, I wouldn't worry until we have too." He said soothingly.

My heart stopped in my chest. Compromising my ability as an agent? Random black outs? Loss of muscle function? No No No. I stepped backwards and sat on the bed, and let out a sigh trying to keep my calm and professional demeanor. Logan placed his hand on mine, in an attempt to reassure me.

"Run the tests." I said coolly. I absolutely refused to panic without reason. Dammit, I wasn't going to panic.

"I'll schedule them." He said with a nod and turned to leave the room.

I looked around at my friends and my co-workers, and forced a smile on my face.

"Guy's I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides if I'm not worrying, you're not allowed to worry." I said.

One by one everyone, excluding Clyde gave me a small smile. Clyde as usual just watched me with a passive smirk, and as usual I fought the desire to kick him in the shin.

* * *

Around seven hours later, I had went through all my test and forced the team to go home, including Clyde who retreated to a hotel and Logan and Darius who took Luce and went home. I was sitting alone in my room when my doctor came in and announced the good news. My tests came back with good fin

Home. God, I looked forward to my bed, and digging out another one of my guns, and eating my food and laying with my dog. I never realized how fond of home that I had become, but I MISSED it.

I signed my discharge papers, and began the descent into the lobby only to run into a very refreshed looking Derek Morgan.

"Hey Dare, where you off too?" He asked

"Discharged. I'm going home." I smiled.

"Alone?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah…" I replied looking at him, wondering what he was implying.

"With a narcissistic psychopath on the loose? One that's not too happy that you beat him?" He asked, looking at me seriously with his dark brown eyes scanning my face looking for any reaction.

"Yes." I replied curtly.

"Do you really think that's safe?" He asked quietly, as he stepped towards me as I looked away.

"I'll be fine." I said coldly.

"Unless he's lying in wait for you at your apartment." He said, his voice dropping, seriously.

"I'm be **fine**." I replied putting emphasis on the world, "fine."

He stepped back and away from me, and sighed.

"Fine, but I'm driving you, and you're not staying alone." He said.

I opened my mouth, to argue, only to be met with a glare. I sighed, knowing that arguing with him was just going to take up way too much time.

"Fine." I said, and brushed past him.

* * *

_Derek's POV_

Letting out a sigh, I turned and followed Asren out of the hospital, speeding up to catch up with her, and I pointed her silently towards my SUV. She climbed in slowly, and I could tell that she was hurting no matter how hard she tried to hide it. I got in, and settled in my seat as the engine quietly roared to life. I glanced over at her, and frowned because she was already staring out the window to avoid conversation.

As I pulled away from where I had parked, I turned on the radio and quiet classical song filled the car. I absentmindedly began the drive towards her apartment, and glanced over at her again to find her sitting stiffly in the seat, like she was very uncomfortable.

"Cold? " I asked, then moved to turn the air down. She shook her head, and turned to look at me, and I was shocked to see how blank and dull her eyes were.

"It's this song. He played it in his car." She said quietly, her eyes following my hand as I slowly turned off the radio. The moment the music ceased, she visibly relaxed against her seat, but kept watching me.

It wasn't until I turned down a street, that took us in the opposite direction of her apartment that she spoke.

"Derek… Where are going?" She asked quietly.

"Rossi's." I replied, praying she wouldn't figure it out. I did not want to be the one she released the tirade about that on.

"Why?" She asked, her tone curious rather than furious.

"I just need to talk to him about something. You don't mind do you?" I asked.

She shrugged and appeared satisfied with that response. My phone rang then, interrupting anything she might have wanted to say.

"Morgan." I answered it.

"It's Rossi. Where are you?" He asked.

"No Ma, it's not really a good time. I'm giving a friend a ride home. Can I call you back in a little while?"

"She know?"

"No Ma, nothings wrong. Her car's just broke. Yeah, I'll tell everyone that you said hi, when I see them."

"Alright. We're waiting on you."

"Alright, Ma. Love you. I'll call you back tonight."

"Alright _love you, Morgan"_ Rossi said with a smirk clear in his voice.

I hung up the phone and made a mental note to smack him, or let an angry Asren take out her rage on him. Oh, that sounded better. Asren didn't say anything prevalent to my phone call, and the rest of the ride was pretty silent. We arrived at Rossi's to see the rest of the teams cars parked there. That's when she finally opened her mouth,

"Morgan… I swear to god…" She began, but I didn't let her finish. I jumped out of the car and hastily walked towards Rossi's house, speeding up as I heard her rush to catch up with me, as fast as her injuries would allow. There was no way in hell I was catching all the blow-back from this. Nope. David Rossi got that pleasure to himself.

* * *

**_Alright, I'll get to work on Chapter 11. FYI Rossi's about to catch HELL! (Sorry Rossi!) And Will Luce and Mudgie get along? Did Clyde go back to London? Where's Logan, the hunk of a CIA agent? Stay tuned, and I promise you'll see ;) _**


	11. Seriously?

**A/N- Another filler chapter, but hey, you gotta have them to have the story make sense. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Asren's POV_

I knew it something was off, when Morgan got that phone call. Something about it didn't sound right, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, of course. When we pulled up to a mansion, set back off the road and I saw several cars there that I recognized to be the teams, I realized what was going on. They weren't going to let me go home, they were going to make me stay with Rossi. Dammit.

I watched as Morgan quickly got out of his car, and rushed into the house. Slowly I opened the door, and walked as quickly as I could manage towards the house myself, which would have been decisively easier had I not been injured. As soon as I stepped in the house, I stepped into my waiting team. The whole team was waiting in the foyer of Dave's mansion, of course all of them were standing slightly behind Dave and Hotch.

Dave and Hotch both stared impassively at me clearly waiting on me to say something, or do something. I just stared at them, fury bubbling deep inside of me, and took a deep breath before I finally spoke, well shouted.

"I swear to God, that if this is what I think it is I will kill all of you before Garcia can delete me electronically. Why in the hell would you think I would be okay with this? What about Luce? Logan can't keep her for however long it takes to catch this asshole, and I wouldn't want him too? Why did you assume you could just bypass what I wanted? I'm perfectly okay with taking care of my damn self. Dammit. No."

An amused chuckle broke out from Morgan, which quickly passed on to Prentiss and soon the whole team excluding Hotch was laughing at me. Hotch had a smirk growing on his face, and I swear that was the first time I'd ever seen him smile, or somewhat smile.

"Seriously?! Are you fucking serious?! You're all laughing at me? SERIOUSLY?!" I yelled, growing more infuriated by the second.

Hotch gave a long look at the team which shut everyone up quickly, but Rossi continued to smirk at me.

"Asren, this is for your own safety. Rossi offered to let you stay here, because he knows that his dog gets along with any dog. Plus she'll have room to run around, while you recover." Hotch said seriously.

"I don't need to recover. I need to catch this bastard. " I started again,

"Asren. No. You're off for the next two weeks pending a psych-eval and you have to be cleared for the field. " Hotch said firmly, his normal boss expression back on his face.

I let out a sigh, and opened my mouth to argue further when Dave cut him off.

"That settles it then, let me show you my mansion." Dave said, as he stepped forward and put his arm around my shoulder guiding me away from the group. His mansion was impressive. He led me to a staircase, and started climbing them, about halfway up, he spoke.

"The mansion was built in the 1980's, when I purchased it I had it restored to what you see today. It's got 10 bedrooms, 8 of which remain bedrooms. One of them I converted to an office, here." He said, indicating an open door to our left, "and the other is down stairs and it's for storage. Now this here is my bedroom," He said, indicating a shut door, and I made a note to remember that so I didn't accidently stumble in there in the middle of the night. "And here's where you'll be staying," He began as he opened another door, this time on the right of the hall.

I walked in and was shocked at the size of the room. It was huge. I stepped in the room, and looked around. A large queen size bed with a beautiful oak frame was against the wall, and next to it on the floor was a large dog bed. I looked around, and saw that an open door led to a bathroom, and from where I stood I could see a huge bathtub.

"Wow…" I said looking around. This place felt like a hotel.

"Is it okay?" Dave asked.

"It's.. amazing." I replied as I sat slowly on the bed.

"Good, because the team's already moved your stuff in here and it'd be hell to move it." He said jokingly.

"Wait… They were in my apartment?" I asked looking at him suddenly.

"Yes…" He replied slowly.

I let out a sigh, trying to control my irate temper. Suddenly, a loud bell could be heard, and Dave turned to go answer it, and I followed quickly.

Once in the foyer again, I saw a welcome face.

"Aww, isn't it my sweet girl." I said to Luce as she trotted towards me, her tail wagging, and I kissed her on the head.

"Nothing for the guy that brings her?" Logan asked with a smirk on his face.

I stood up, and beckoned him with my finger, and watched with growing amusement as he walked towards me, stopping close to me. I heard the team shuffling in the foyer, and I leaned in slowly. SMACK! My hand cracked the back of his head.

"Yup. That's what I've got for you. You let her step in the mud." I said sweetly.

Snickering broke out from the group behind me, as Logan let out an indigniant gasp.

"I didn't _let _ her walk in the mud. I tried to pull her away from it. She just didn't it to spite me! " He said with a long look at Luce.

"Pfft. Luce is an angel. She does nothing to spite anyone." I said, smartly.

"Please. She's yours. She's just as manipulative as you are." He said with a gently teasing smile.

I rolled my eyes at him, and playfully punched his shoulder before turning back to Dave.

"Alright. I promise I won't be to much of a pain in the ass if and ONLY if, Luce gets along with Mudgie. If she goes, I go." I said simply.

"I can work with that." Dave said confidently, as he let out a whistle.

* * *

A large chocolate lab bounded across the house and into the foyer, he weaved between each of the team and stopped at Dave's feet, his tail wagging gently. Luce tensed up, her ears alert as she stared at this new dog. I took a deep breath, and nodded at Dave who released Mudgie's collar. The lab started forward, and Luce stepped forward to meet him. She was tense, but her tail was wagging slightly. Like a gentleman Mudgie, allowed Luce to sniff him first before sniffing her back, and It wasn't long and the two were standing close to each other with their tails wagging.

"Well.. it looks like you'll be staying here." Dave said triumphantly.

I let out a sigh, and cast a pleading glance at Logan who held his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Fine." I said grudgingly. I still didn't see the point in all of this.

With that settled the team slowly bidded their good-byes, everyone promising to come back on Monday morning to get started searaching for Licoln. Two days with Dave. Two whole days? I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Logan stood leaning against the wall, as the team filed out. With Garcia making me promise to call her, and Morgan staying as far away from me as possible.

When it was just the three of us, Dave spoke first.

"I'll give you two some privacy. Brooks you care for some scotch?"

"Scotch please," He started then looked at me. "I'll take some too." I said quickly. If Logan was drinking, then I wasn't about to be the sober one.

Dave walked away with a knowing smile, and I followed him slowly. Logan walked closely behind me, his arm brushing my lower back in that possessive yet hot way of his. Once we entered Dave's huge kitchen he turned towards us with two small glasses in hand. We both muttered our thanks and each took a sip.

"I'm going to go outside. I'll take Mudgie and Luce out to stretch their legs." He said and walked away before either of us could protest.

Logan quietly led the way away from me and towards the living room and sat down.

I sat down close to him and looked up at him with a sigh. In a gulp we both finished our glasses of scotch and I fell graciously into his open arms. He kissed me, his tongue teasing the inside of my lip asking for permission, that I granted with a soft sigh. His hand gently cupped my face, the other wrapped around my waist, pulling me tightly into him. Our bodies melded together perfectly, and as we pulled apart, he kissed my neck gently as I rest my head against his chest. He pulled me closer to him, and comfortably and like we always did our bodies found a way to lay around each other, like a perfectly pieced together puzzle.

I lay there for a long while, listening to his steady heartbeat, and just being comforted by his smell, and it wasn't long till the lull of his heartbeat and breathing carried me into sleep.

* * *

A/N- A little bit of a hint as to the relationship that Logan and Asren share. Yes, they're sort of a thing, but no don't despair about any pairings you might have had in mind c; Trust me. We'll get there in due time! As always thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated!


	12. Putting the Pieces Together

_Alright, we're starting to build up to some pretty intense stuff. Enjoy_!

* * *

It was the shuffling of dogs foot steps that roused me, and I opened my eyes sleepily to see Luce and Mudgie both staring at us curiously. If the beady eyes of the dogs weren't enough, I looked up to see a knowing smirk on Dave's face, as he looked down at us. The moment, I slowly pulled my head away from his chest, Logan's eyes snapped open, and his arm tightened around me, his other reaching for his gun. Instinctively, I flashed my hand out and caught his, giving him a warning look and then nodding up at Dave.

I knew Dave didn't miss any of the exchange, and looked back up to see him smirking even wider if that was possible. I slid away from Logan slowly, and sat up. Logan stood and stretched.

"I'll go get Luce's stuff from the car." Logan said leaving Dave and alone.

Dave gave me a long look before sitting down in the chair opposite of me, but before he could speak Logan's cell phone which he had sat on the table started to ring. I picked it up and opened it, to read a text message that was calling him in. I closed his phone and limped over to the door, calling Logan over to me with a sharp whistle.

"Yeah?" He said as he walked towards me carrying a huge bag of dog food.

"You got called in. Leave that here, I'll put it up." I said quietly.

He gave me a long look, and sat the bag down, leaning it against the door way. "Call me, if you need anything. I don't know where they'll be sending me." He said. I gave him a quick hug, and watched as he drove away before limping back into the mansion, and towards the living room.

Dave was sitting where I had left him, sipping another glass of scotch and leaned back in his recliner. Mudgie laid near his feet on the floor, and close to him Luce laid. I shuffled towards the couch, and sat down slowly, my chest muscles aching from where I had been kicked in the ribs. We sat in silence for a while, before Dave finally broke it.

"How'd you meet Brooks?" Dave asked quietly.

"Uh.. our paths crossed when I was with Interpol." I said quietly, carefully avoiding the real story. I knew that Dave was an experienced profile and that he would assume that there was a lot more to the story, but I hoped he wouldn't push it.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's more to it than that?" He asked quietly, and let out a sigh as I pointedly looked away.

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm all ears." He said after a few moments.

I was glad that he cared… but I knew there were parts of my life that I'd never talk about. Ever.

"Mudgie seems to like Luce…" I murmured quietly, tactfully changing the subject to something that we could comfortably discuss.

"Yes, but he gets along well with most every dog. How long have you had Luce?" Dave asked.

Dammit, Dave. Why do you have to ask things…

"About 4 years now." I replied carefully, of course leaving out the part that my ex-boyfriend is technically the one that bought Luce… and that technically I stole her from him.

~Flashback~

_Christmas morning, brought with it a snowy morning in Moscow. I woke up alone, which wasn't uncommon but especially irksome on Christmas morning. I rolled over in the bed, and stretched my arm across Jullian's side to feel the bed slightly warm. He had just left, and very recently. That was in my hand touched something soft. I lifted my head, and saw a small lump of fur curled in a ball asleep where Jullian's head normally laid. _

_I sat up slowly, and cautiously extended my other arm to poke it. The lump gave a small wimper, and lifted it's head. The cute german sheppard eyed me curiously, and quickly wiggled closer to me. _

_"Merry Christmas, mi amor." Jullian's voice echoed across the apartment towards me. I scooped up the puppy, and turned towards him with a smile. I crawled out of the bed and crossed the room towards him, leaning down to kiss him deeply. The puppy squirmed between us, licking each of us. A rare chuckle escaped Jullian, a sound normally reserved for me and we broke apart looking down at her. _

_"Oh, Jullian, she's beautiful." I said with a smile._

_"But no comparison to you…" He replied…. _

_~End Flashback~_

* * *

Monday arrived, with little excitement over the weekend. I had spent most of it resting, leaving Dave to work on his latest novel. Seven, that morning we were both sitting at his dining room table drinking coffee when the door bell rang. Quickly, he excused himself to answer it, and returned just as quickly into the room with a slightly smiling Aaron Hotchner.

"Morning Hotch." I said with a smile.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me with a glance at Dave.

"I'm feeling great." I said with what I hoped was a convincing smile.

He nodded and glanced at Dave again before sitting at the head of the table.

In the next ten minutes the rest of the team had arrived, everyone seemingly looking refreshed and ready to give it a go.

"Alright guys, we have a problem." Garcia said once everyone had settled, which of course got everyone's attention so we turned to look at her.

"Licoln's left the country. A known alias of his was flagged in Italy and I caught footage of him at the airport."

The whole team looked around in a very confused manner and that's when it hit me. Jullian. Oh god no.

I stood up suddenly and turned to walk quickly back to my room. I grabbed my duffle bag, and started stuffing things in it. Vaguely I heard someone talking to me, someone touching me but I wasn't stopping. Nothing was going to stop me.

* * *

_Dave's POV_

Garcia's news was annoying, but what really got everyone worried was Asren's reaction. Quickly I stood and followed her retreating form across the house and watched from the door way as she grabbed a bag and started packing it. Slowly I moved forward, aware of the rest of the team who had now followed me.

I put my arm on her shoulder, and stepped backwards whens he jerked away from me but didn't look. I watched as she pack an assortment of things, before digging into her jewelry box for a small key, which she ran through a chain and clasped around her neck. She zipped the bag, and turned towards us marching towards the door.

"Move." She commanded Hotch.

The team visibly braced themselves for Hotch's reaction. Hotch squared his body, and glared down at the young agent.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Move." She repeated, her voice cold.

The two were in a staring contest, a battle of wills before she shoved him aside and rushed away from the team. We followed quickly, each member calling to her, and everyone of us flinched as we heard the whistle and the front door slam.

* * *

_Well, I'm getting to work on the next chapter. Reviews are welcomed! ^_^_


	13. AUTHORS NOTE PLEASE READ

Hey guys! I'm working on Chapter 13 & 14, and I was thinking of bringing some of the NCIS team in on it, particularly to test this cross-over idea that's been nagging me. Tell me what you think?

They'd only be in a couple chapters and later referenced. I think it could cause some interesting drama.

~Thanks, Freedom!


	14. Running

_Team's POV_

The slamming of the front door reverberated through the house, and the team looked at each other shock visible in everyone's expressions. Hotch and Dave exchanged a long look, before Hotch turned to his team.

"Garcia, pull up every record we have on Dare. If the records are sealed, unseal them." Hotch ordered.

Garcia nodded and headed back to the dining room.

"Prentiss, get Clyde here." Hotch was met with a nod from the brunette.

"Reid, you and Blake go over everything we know about Licoln. Figure out why he went there." The pair nodded.

"Morgan, JJ, go back to Asren's place. See if she went there.." The two nodded and quickly exited the mansion hoping to see Asren walking away but she was already gone. He needn't tell them to profile her apartment to see if they could guess her next move, he knew they would.

Hotch turned to Dave, and spoke.

"What do you think she's doing?" Hotch asked quietly.

"Vigilante justice?" Dave suggested quietly. They exchanged a dark look and walked into the kitchen to review files. They had to figure her out.

* * *

_Asren's POV_

It had been a long time since I had resorted to using my aliases and running. Logan would be pissed, oh so pissed if he knew and knowing him and the amount of eyes that he had on me, I was pretty sure he knew.

I walked back towards the city, catching a cab on the way in and took it to an old storage locker. Once there, I paid the cab driver to wait and disappeared inside. I had stocks of weapons, and things to change my identity in there. I grabbed some black hair dye, and several guns and cash before making my way back to my cab. From there I headed to the outskirts of the city. The slums if you'd call them that.

I had what one could call a burn apartment there. I had procured it in the first couple nights of my arrival in the states. I knew I had to get away from the team, if Jullian was involved everyone that spoke to me or helped me in anyway would be targeted. He wasn't a force to be messed with, but then again, neither was I.

* * *

_At Asren's Apartment- Derek & JJ_

They had arrived quickly, mostly due to Derek's use of the sirens, and promptly arrived at her room with help from the manager key-wise. They entered to find the apartment neat and orderly. It didn't look like anyone had been there.

The apartment was cozy, but at the same time only mildly furnished. The colors were warm, and welcoming in all the rooms.

Derek and JJ went through every room, neither saying much of anything until they came to the master bedroom and found the safe. The door was ajar and it had been cleared, someone had taken the rest of the rooms, the master bed-room gave the distinct impression that they were trespassing.

_TEAM POV _

Hotch sat down heavily at the head of the table, as his team filed in, Prentiss entering with a disgruntled looking Clyde Easter. Two hours had passed since Asren left, and he wanted answers now.

"Easter. What the hell is going on with Dare?" Hotch asked in his normal demanding tone.

Clyde let out a sigh, and spoke lazily.

"Sit down, everyone. What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room." As everyone sat down he leaded against the wall casually.

"Alright, so Asren Dare was formally known as "The Cat", I'm sure you've all heard of her?"

This question brought nods to most of the team, particularly Prentiss, Garcia, and Reid.

" 'The Cat?' " Morgan asked a confused look on his face.

"Huge assassin. Killed many high influenced people, worked exclusively with the highest bidder. She was on everyone's most wanted list for a long time." Prentiss supplied before Clyde responded.

"She was involved with a Jullian Thorne, for a long time. She worked under him and it was on one of his tasks that she approached us. In exchange for immunity and a job, she gave him to us. This Licoln guy was one of Jullian's men. I assume that's where they knew each other from. Jullian isn't in prison, no, he was gone soon after we arrested him. Killed eleven of our best agents in the process. He has known ties to several terrorist, deceased and alive, and even some IRA contacts. ." He glanced at Prentiss as he finished.

"We weren't sure what sparked her betrayal of Jullian, but when she came to us she was pretty beat up. None the less, we heard that he had died, in an issue with another terrorist so when you're FBI director called for her, we sent her here."

The BAU team looked around at each other taking in this new news about their newest team-mate. They knew this wasn't all the details, but all Clyde could share about her. They'd have to ask Asren about it later.

"Why'd she run?" Morgan asked, "Her safe was cleaned out."

"If I know Asren, she's still in the city in a burn house trying to plan her next move. She knows she can't directly go after Licoln and that's not her style. I have to go back to London, but I'll keep an eye out for her on our systems. If she checks in anywhere, I'll send her home to you." Clyde finished and with a brief look at Emily he left.

Garcia typed furiously on her laptop, working as hard as she could when Hotch's phone rang suddenly, causing everyone to pause.

Hotch pulled his phone from his pocket, and frowned at the unknown number. He answered it on speaker.

"Agent Hocthner." He answered.

"Hotchner, where the hell is Dare?" A familiar voice asked in an annoyed tone.

"Brooks? She left Dave's this morning." Hotch replied carefully.

"What happened?" Brooks shot back, clearly worried.

"We were just talking about Licoln." Reid said quickly.

"What did you say?" Brooks asked back in a pressing tone.

"That he was in Italy." Morgan said

"Dammit." Brooks said quietly.

"What is it?!" Hotch asked snappishly, and glanced at the worried faces of his team.

"I'm coming home. Meet me at Asren's place. I'll be there in 4 hours." He said, and abruptly hung up the phone.

"Is it me or is anyone else getting tired of not knowing what the hell's going on?" Morgan asked, leaning back against his chair.

"I find this all very frustrating." Reid said in agreement.

The team dived back into their work, pausing for lunch on Rossi's insistence, until the four hours had nearly passed then the whole team went off to Asren's apartment. Standing outside the apartment, the team was met by an exhausted looking Logan. Barely sparing team a greeting, he let the team into her apartment, and they moved into the living room.

As the team settled down to sit on the couch, and assorted chairs, Logan moved to a large picture and removed it from the wall revealing a small safe.

"How many safe's does that girl have?" Morgan asked, which earned a chuckle from Logan, who had turned around with a black phone in his hand.

"We have a system. She'll answer this phone." He said in short explanation, before hitting 1 speed-dial on the phone. Placing it on speaker, he sat it on the coffee table before sitting by it. A few rings greeted the team.

"Logan." Asren's voice greeted them.

"Secure line?" Logan asked, silencing the team with his hand.

"Yes."

"Secure place?"

"Just talk to me."

"Your team is here."

"Good-bye, Logan."

"Asren, wait!" Prentiss broke in, quickly.

"Prentiss?"

"I know what you're thinking. You were too involved with Jullian, and now that Licoln has fled to his last known location, you're trying to protect us by taking any of his remaining contacts out first."

Silence met her, with surprised looks from the team.

"I know what place you're in. I've been there, Asren. Come home. Let us help you."

"You can't, Prentiss. This is a lot bigger than Doyle."

If Prentiss was surprised that Asren knew about Doyle, she didn't let it show before speaking again.

"Maybe, but a team of ten is better than one. I made that mistake with Doyle and it nearly cost me my life."

A click was heard at the end of the line, and a sigh escaped Prentiss as she stood and walked from the room.

* * *

_Asren's POV_

Emily was right. I knew she was right, but that didn't make the choice to involve them any easier. Yes, I had answered Logan's call because that was the promise that I had made him. I couldn't go back. Doing so, endangered not just the team but everyone in their lives. I don't know when I started to care about who I hurt, but dammit, I did.

Pacing around the meager apartment, she cursed and ranted. Luce, laid on the floor, watching her with rueful brown eyes, as if she was wondering what exactly was going on. Whether or not, she understood it, she knew her owner was at the root of it. Punching a wall, she pulled away from it her fury growing rather than ebbing.

Resolutely she faced the dog and still packed duffle bag before her, and finally stepped towards the door. She knew what she had to do. With a low whistle, calling Luce to her, she left.

* * *

Sorry, for the wait. Life's a crack-whore sometimes. I'll try to update sooner, please feel free to ignore that Authors note, in the chapter before. The story took a different direction.


End file.
